HEB's Gone Green

While Texas Recycles Day may not be a state holiday just yet, HEB is commemorating it in a big way. This Thursday, Nov. 15, Austin HEB stores will celebrate by giving away free reusable shopping bags to customers bringing in at least five disposable plastic grocery bags for recycling. Better yet, customers bringing in 10 disposable bags can score two reusables, but that's the limit. (Once HEB's 20,000 free bags are gone, customers can purchase them for 99 cents.) The giveaway coincides with an added push by the grocer to expand their own plastics recycling program; also beginning today, bins go up outside Austin H-E-Bs for recycling most No. 2 and No. 4 plastics, including grocery-store and dry-cleaning bags, six-pack rings, "outer-wrap" on products like toilet paper, and more. Widely maligned as a waste of petroleum resources and cause of pollution, the move comes as the city of Austin considers ways to lessen disposable bags' use.

(And on another note, we gotta say that attaching your press release to a reusable bag stuffed full of Central Market treats like veggie chips and chocolate truffles is a move more PR firms need to emulate. Bon appétit!)