The “Got Your Bags?” campaign originated as a grassroots effort with the Mariposa County Public Works Department (MCPWD) and the Mariposa County Unified School District, in California, who worked together on a pilot stenciling project in local supermarket parking lots. MCPWD staff created the “Got Your Bags?” slogan and logo stencil design. The stencil painting was then incorporated into a lesson plan on recycling for summer school students. 

 Keep California Beautiful (KCB) is now taking this campaign statewide by uniting non-profit, business, community and government organizations around the common goal of promoting the three R’s as they relate to bags – reduce, reuse and recycle.

Reduce: Many California grocers and retailers sell inexpensive reusable bags and shoppers can always decline a bag at checkout (is a bag really necessary for one small item?). 

Reuse: More than 90 percent of consumers reuse their grocery bags at home for an infinite number of purposes – right, dog owners? 

Recycle: State law requires most large supermarkets and pharmacies to set up recycling bins so every Californian can return shopping bags, dry-cleaning bags, bread bags, wraps from paper towels, bathroom tissue, napkins, diapers – even the plastic bag that delivers the newspaper. Recycling these bags and wraps allows them to have a second life as new products including backyard fencing and decking, building and construction products, shopping carts, and of course, new bags.