BRUNSWICK — Inspired by the Bring Your Own Bag Brunswick movement and in order to ease ocean pollution, Goodwill Northern New England stores are ditching plastic bags as of Jan. 1.

“The women from Bring Your Own Bags Midcoast were so inspiring. They helped us transition from using plastic bags in Brunswick a few months ago,” said Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Goodwill NNE’s CEO. “Customers tell us they’ve appreciated the change because they understand what a beautiful place we live in and just want to help protect it.”

To help customers adapt to the change, the stores will have a limited number of reusable bags available in Goodwill’s 29 other stores across Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Store employees have been stashing totes for months, in anticipation of the change.

As of Nov. 15, half of Goodwill NNE’s 30 stores will be bagless, which include stores in Falmouth, Gorham, South Portland Mill Creek, Westbrook, Auburn, Bangor, Lewiston, Topsham, Belfast and Brewer stores, along with five other stores in Vermont and New Hampshire. The other stores will ditch single-use bags on Dec. 15.

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