The problem with shwag bags: Most of the stuff’s just junk to you. This year, BlogHer’s letting conference attendees drop off the unwanted magic 8-balls and “Saving Grace” T-shirts in a recycling room run by Zwaggle.
What’ll happen to the unwanted shwag? I talked to Adam D. Levy of Zwaggle — who said that the stuff’d be donated to L.A.’s nonprofit Create Now.
But why would a nonprofit providing creative arts mentoring to kids want a whole buncha tire pressure gauges and Boca burger fridge magnets? Adam said that some of the stuff will go back to the vendors, while others will be recycled.
Apparently, Zwaggle signed up to run the recycling room before figuring out what items they’d need to recycle, much less how to recycle them. Zwaggle’s not really in the recycling biz, after all — the Zwaggle site’s basically like a big, points-based freecycle network for parents who want to trade kids’ stuff.
I’m following up with Adam next week to find out what exactly will happen to the chunky plastic nail care kits. To the right’s the stuff I dropped off –
Shwag people actually wanted: Free prints from Snapfish and a free 7-Day T-Mobile hotspot code appear to be the most popular.
There sure is a lot of plastic at this here conference. Somehow I thought there would be less. The recycling room idea is great in theory. It would be best if the vendors just took back all their crap or didn’t put it in the bags to begin with.
I kept the T-Mobile and Snapfish cards, too!
Comment by Beth Terry — July 19, 2008 @ 6:15 am
I’m so glad you’re thinking about these things. It’s become so “normal” to give out free gifts, whether people want them or not.
Comment by mollie — July 19, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
Beth and other enviros at BlogHer — Part of this is our fault for not volunteering to get more involved in the planning process. We must change that next year –
Comment by Siel — July 19, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
Siel, you’re right! One more thing to add to my “To Do” list.
:-)
Beth
Comment by Beth Terry — July 20, 2008 @ 10:04 am
It would be great to really green up the conference, in ways that truly make a difference. Who needs all that swag, more totebags, and fridge magnets? I’m definitely on board for working with them next year!
Comment by Jenn — July 28, 2008 @ 9:23 pm