Omega Music has kept more than 11,000 bags out of landfills with this minor switch-up

Retailers and restaurants across the country are opting for more sustainable and earth-friendly packaging. Omega Music in Dayton is taking the initiative down another track.

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The independent record store in the Oregon District, which sells new and used CDs, vinyl records, posters, hard-to-find music merch and more, launched its Skip the Bag program in September 2017. The effort gives customers the option to skip the bag at checkout and in its place, choose a charity to donate 10 cents, the cost of a shopping bag.

 

Last year, Omega donated $1,569.80 to local nonprofits and kept 11,624 plastic bags out of landfills and waterways. That’s huge when you consider the little effort “skipping the bag” requires.

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“We give you a puzzle piece that represents the cost of the bag that we would have given you and we have three charities on our counter to choose from,” said Mike Cooley, secretary of media relations at Omega Music. “You just drop the puzzle piece in whatever box you would like and we donate ten cents, the cost of the bag, to that charity at the end of each month. We pick three new charities every month to use and we count all the puzzle pieces up at the end of each month and donate the money. Then we bring three new charities in.”

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Every month, Omega posts exactly how much was donated to each charity that month on it Facebook page.

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