Brand New Bag

Let’s be honest. Your exfoliating face wash is hurting the whales. The plastic bag it comes in is contributing to the giant floating garbage island in the Pacific Ocean. (Think buying a sanctimonious canvas tote makes a difference? Maybe, but you could end up spending as much as $275 on eBay. Plus, if you’ll forgive us, you’ll look like a dork.)

Thankfully, there are small acts of penance that can help (or at least make you feel like you’re helping) turn the tide of plastic. Starting next Friday, Kiosk, our favorite peripatetic retail-gallerist, hosts a weeklong plastic-bag exchange at its Soho store. The so-called Plastic Bag Happening, curated by Jason Rosenberg, a New York artist, is the second in a series of mini exhibitions at the shop. Take your offensive polyethelene sack to Kiosk and you’ll be able to swap it for an exotic replacement from a bodega you might not even have heard of!

But even better than trading in old plastic bags is turning them into something worthwhile. With that in mind, Rosenberg is setting up shop every day from 3 to 7 p.m. with his sewing machine and creating “functional items” with the bags people bring in.

Kiosk’s Plastic Bag Happening runs from June 27 to July 1 at 95 Spring Street, on the second floor.