'Bag Monster' Tours Country To Raise Awareness Of Plastic Bag Pollution (VIDEO)
The nefarious alter ego of Andy Keller, founder of reusable bag company ChicoBag, Bag Monster is a character born of 500 plastic bags stitched together -- the amount an average person uses each year.
Keller has taken his costume on the road to raise awareness about single-use plastic bag pollution and encourage legislation banning plastic bags in cities across the country.
In each stop along the way, Keller sets up a massive 900-square-foot "Don't Feed The Monster" installation, representing the number of plastic bags a single person will go through in their lifetime -- approximately 45,000. Keller uses the display to educate the public through Bag Monster, and encourages them to ask questions and interact with the installation to learn more about the negative effects plastic bags have on the environment.
According to Bag Monster's website, the United States consumes 30 billion plastic and 10 billion paper grocery bags every year, costing 14 million trees and 12 million barrels of oil to produce. If everyone in the country tied their year's worth of plastic bag usage together, the chain of bags would stretch around the planet 760 times.
Bag Monster still has upcoming visits in Santa Fe, Austin, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City. Check out the full schedule HERE and visit BagMonster.com for more information.
WATCH the Bag Monster in Seattle:
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First Posted: 08/23/10 02:46 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 06:25 PM ET