More on the SXSW Shwag Bags

Yesterday, David touched on the massive amount of paper products (a.k.a. advertising) that fill the SXSW shwag bags, which are ironically made from reusable canvas, but holy God, take a look at how many there are!

According to Paige Steen, the crew chief of promotional materials,  there are about 5,000 bags put together for the film fest, 7,000 for interactive and more than 25,000 for the music attendees. The bags themselves are so heavy (5 lbs for either the film or interactive sacks, 20 lbs for the music behemoth) that those of us who have signed up for multiple events are encouraged to claim just one bag at a time when we check in at the ground floor of the convention center. [update: SXSW is now saying that the actual amount of bags are  12,000 for music, 6,000 for interactive, and 5,500 for film]

Bags are filled with magazines, notepads, bracelets, fliers, CDs, DVDs and even a Chinese take-out box with a fortune cookie. Steen said that volunteers spend hours packing the tens of thousands of shwag bags days before the festival.

In a progressive city where the hotels harp on conserving water, reusing towels and recycling, the least green product is the one thing that many attendees find themselves overloaded with: several bags with pounds of mostly useless crud. However, there are some improvements to this year's festival in regard to leaving a smaller footprint.

Besides the fact that volunteers are weeding through the trash to sort out the recyclables, the most impressive green-friendly development has to do with water. Instead of passing out (and selling) landfill-unfriendly plastic bottles of water, SXSW has set up several free water dispensers for those who have their own containers. Be they thermoses, mugs or paper cups (provided), attendees can enjoy filtered water without leaving behind a trail of plastic.

- Above, Paige Steen. Photos and post by Tony Pierce, LA Times

Comments

[GEAH]

And liberals wonder why conservatives don't take the Global Warming hysteria seriously.