Kings Super Markets and MY ECO are partnering in The Kings School Reuse Challenge. The Challenge is an environmental consciousness raising effort that provides information to nearly 20,000 N.J. students, including many area kids, on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Schools participating in the Challenge compete against each other to see who can reuse the most bags, avoiding new plastic grocery bags on supermarket visits.

As part of the Challenge, students sell the MY ECO Shopping Bag System. With every System sold, Kings will donate $5 to the student's school. Each time a bag is used at Kings, its barcode will be scanned and points will accumulate. Those points can be redeemed for school supplies.

"The goal is to reach students at a young age to create environmental consciousness," says MY ECO Shopping Bag System creator Kristen Brown.  "Then, they become advocates for the cause and disseminate the lessons to their family and community; it is the key to behavior change."

The Kings School Reuse Challenge provides a creative way for schools to fundraise while teaching sustainability. Schools will receive monthly statements that measure their specific progress including the number of times the bags have been reused. They will also receive an estimate on the number plastic bags each school has diverted from landfills and incinerators.

"Kings has a commitment to our community and the environment," says Kings Senior Marketing Director Pat Mikell.  "The Kings School Reuse Challenge allows us to help both."

MY ECO developer Brown's father, Gordan Dancy, introduced the now ubiquitous (and reviled) plastic grocery bag to the grocery industry in the late 1970s.  His invention moved people from paper to plastic.  Now, as an environmental consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Brown hopes MY ECO Shopping Bag System's functionality will close the loop entirely on disposable bags.