A DEESIDE primary school project to encourage the use of reusable bags is so popular that nearly all 500 of the bags the pupils created sold out within an hour.
Children at Banchory Primary were selling reusable cotton bags at the town’s monthly farmers market and also had a stall in the local WH Smith store at the weekend.
Less than an hour after they started, only 30 of the bags, printed with a design by primary two pupil Frances Sealy, 7, were left.
Ruth MacDonald, the school’s eco-co-ordinator, said: “I was really surprised. I didn’t think they would go that quickly.
“Because it’s come from the children, it’s had a huge impact on people. It’s not just an adult handing out a bag.”
The children from primary two and three were shocked when they visited a local supermarket and calculated that more than 5,000 plastic bags left the store every day.
They also sent a questionnaire out to parents at the school to get an idea of exactly what was needed in the town.
When they looked at what happened within their own homes, they discovered that only one family of the 23 pupils in the classes had already ditched plastic bags in favour of reusable ones.
Mrs MacDonald said: “We looked at the effect it was having on the wildlife and the environment. I think it hit home on the children. It really made them think.”
Keen to take the project further, the teacher approached a Tesco representative at a public consultation event at the weekend to ask about the possibility of sponsorship for the next round of bags. She is now hoping to enter into discussions with the retailer about sponsoring bags in the near future.
The project runs alongside a campaign launched by residents in Banchory to make the town the first in the north-east to go plastic bag-free. Money from the bags will go towards some of the school’s other green projects, including a plastic bottle greenhouse and an allotment site at the town’s Woodend Barn arts centre.