Solution to Conference Waste Is in the Bag

If you’ve been a registered participant at a conference or trade show, chances are you’ve taken home a free conference bag. Have you ever wondered what happens to the extra bags that no one picks up? Tens of thousands of conference bags are dumped in landfills every year, and most of us never give it a thought.

Not so for Jeff Johnson, whose wife, Karen Ande, was the subject of a post this past week (Children Raising Children: Documenting Africa’s AIDS Crisis). In an email, Jeff told us a bit about his work to put conference bags to good use. We were so intrigued, we wanted to share his letter with our readers. We’ve reprinted it below:

“As a computer consultant and book author, I give talks and classes at three or four computer-related conferences a year, sometimes more. Conferences often give each attendee a bag to carry conference stuff in: proceedings books, presentation handouts, vendor-booth literature and tchotchkes (free trinkets), etc. I have always considered this a bit odd, because attendees already have briefcases and backpacks and don’t need a bag to carry stuff in. But I usually take a bag anyway, and either use it as a reusable shopping bag or give it to a friend for the same purpose.

“In April 2007, I attended a conference in San Jose, California. The bags given out there were not the usual simple cloth bags; they were semi-briefcases. As the conference was ending and the conference furnishings and equipment were being packed up, I saw a huge pile of the bags near the entrance — the extras. Hundreds of them. I asked the organizers what would happen to the bags. They told me leftover bags would be thrown away and would probably be shredded. They encouraged attendees to take as many bags as they wanted as they left the conference.

“What a waste! I knew those semi-briefcases would be very useful as school book bags for Kenyan orphans. The kids would love to have bags like those. I had come to the conference by train, so I couldn’t take many bags. I took as many as I could carry — about 20 — and lugged them on the train back to San Francisco. I gave them to an organization that runs AIDS orphan projects in Kenya. They reported that the bags were a big hit with the kids.

“That particular conference happens every year in April. The organizers heard what I did with the 20 bags, and before the 2008 conference, they asked me if I could take ALL of that year’s leftover bags. The 2008 bags were cloth bags — not as nice as the semi-briefcases of 2007 — but they would still be useful and desirable in Kenya. So, I agreed to do it, provided we could work out the logistics — the conference that year was in Florence, Italy.

Children from the Gilgil orphange in Kenya are the delighted recipients of surplus conference bags.

“Probably because of the location, attendance at the 2008 conference was high, so when the conference ended, they had only about 80 extra bags. Shipping them from Italy directly to an orphanage in Kenya would not work, because either they would never arrive, or if they did arrive, the import duties would be prohibitive. My wife and I packed the bags into a large duffel and carried them as baggage back to San Francisco.

“There, we gave them to a friend who was taking supplies to an orphanage that we support in Gilgil, Kenya. After arriving at the orphanage, our friend sent us a photo of one of her volunteers giving bags to the kids. We forwarded the photo to the conference organizers, and they were thrilled. So now I am that conference’s unofficial “Surplus Bags Chair.”

“A few months later, I spoke with the organizers of another conference, and ended up bringing a big box of nice briefcase bags back from Baltimore on the plane. The same organization that took the first batch of briefcase bags took these also, with similar results: happy Kenyan orphans.

“For better or worse, word seems to be getting around. In September, I received an email from a computer conference organizer whose conferences I have never attended. They had a storeroom full of bags leftover from several conferences. Could I take them to Africa? “Sure,” I said naively. In October, while I was away speaking at conferences in Oslo and Moscow (where there were no extra bags), I got an email from my wife telling me that seven big boxes of conference bags were in our living room.

“Since returning home, as time permits, I have been trying to find good homes for the latest batch of bags. I sent email to people who run orphanages and relief programs in Kenya. On Christmas Eve, I took two boxes of bags to a homeless relief program in San Francisco. Coincidentally, just now as I am writing this, an email arrived from a relief organization saying that they are sending someone to Kenya in January and could take some of the bags.

“It is gratifying to know that these bags have gone to good use rather than being shredded or being piled into a landfill, but of course this is just a tiny drop in the bucket — conferences toss out tens of thousands of surplus bags every year. However, I don’t really have the facilities or time to scale this “bag rescue” operation up much further. Furthermore, flying extra bags back from conferences to San Francisco and then sending them as baggage to Kenya doesn’t make much environmental sense.

“My hope is that conference organizers who read this will NOT send me more bags to distribute, but rather will include responsible surplus-bag disposal in their conference plans. Or perhaps an enterprising reader will create an NGO or company to collect surplus conference bags and send them to people and organizations who can put them to good use.”

Jeff Johnson
San Francisco, California

EDITOR’S NOTE: We think Jeff’s suggestion is a good one. If your company has excess conference bags, don’t dump them. There are hundreds — perhaps even thousands — of places where they can be put to good use, and they may well be closer to you than an ocean away. If you’re an “enterprising reader,” an ecopreneur who has creative ideas about how to connect surplus conference bags (or any other surplus items) with deserving recipients, take up Jeff’s challenge. Then let us know what you’re doing. We’d love to share your story and show other readers how they, too, can help.

Julia Wasson

Blue Planet Green Living (Home Page)

Related Posts:

Children Raising Children: Documenting Africa’s AIDS Crisis

Legacy of a Green Artist and Dreamer