Bring Your Own Bag (BYOBag) Saratoga is a group of citizens working to reduce unnecessary plastic waste. They encourage shoppers to bring reusable bags as an alternative to disposable plastic bags. 

BYOBag has a Facebook group and page, with shared information on conservation. Alex Chaucer, a GIS instructional technologist at Skidmore College, has also written a signon.org petition against plastic bag use, addressed to Saratoga Springs Mayor Scott Johnson.

“On average, plastic bags are used for 12 minutes, yet they will stick around for thousands of years as trash, polluting our waterways and harming animals,” Chaucer wrote in the petition. “You have a choice. Let's join together to stop this disposable consumer culture that is destroying our planet. It's time to bring your own bag, Saratoga.”

Currently, there are 443 signatures. 

“The outpouring of support from the community is great,” he said. “We have support from some local politicians as well.”

--Jennie