The Duxbury Girl Scouts sent out a good message by going green and having fun while doing it. Troop leaders Karen O’Brien and Carly Olson teamed up with Girl Scout mom and Sustainable Duxbury member Mary Lynn Carson to teach the girls the drawbacks of paper and plastic shopping bags.

Carson thought it would be a wonderful and fun idea if the girls joined the movement by making their own personally painted cotton shopping bags. Cotton shopping bags are reusable and greatly cut down on trash, especially plastic bags that, according to scientists, take 1,000 years to breakdown.

“The US uses 60,000 plastic bags every five seconds.” Carson said.

Using a cotton reusable bag drastically cuts down on the problems plastic bags are creating. And, as the girls proved, those bags don’t have to be ugly or boring. Use your favorite beach bag, a stylish basket, or make it your own like the girls did with decorations. According to Sustainable Duxbury, if 1 in 3 American families use reusable cotton bags we would save 36 billion bags a year, which is about the same as taking more than 2,200 cars off the road.