Environmental group "Plastic bag-free Whangarei" wants those attending the city's Growers' Market today to celebrate World Earth Day by using reusable bags.
A bag-swap stand is at the markets to encourage people to swap their plastic bags for recyclable ones.
"It is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Whangarei and visitors to the market to use a bag that doesn't cost the earth," group spokeswoman Tammy Fromont said.
The group has had a bag-swap stand at the market for the past month making reusable environment-friendly bags available to the public in a bid to reduce disposable plastic bag use in the city.
"We can see the value in doing a little bit to help, and using reusable bags instead of disposable plastic bags, is one way to do that. We make reusable bags available for a small koha or in exchange, to people who didn't bring their own reusable bags or simply forgot, instead of asking for plastic bags when they buy their produce," she said.