Environment
Facts and figures regarding the true cost of plastic bags
Top Facts -
Consumption
Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed
worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as
litter each year.
According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are
consumed in the U.S. each year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic
shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)
According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20
billion bags a year—900 per person.
According to Australia’s Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9
billion plastic bags each year—326 per person. An estimated .7% or 49,600,000
end up as litter each year.
Top Facts -
Environmental Impact
Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every
year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and
smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web
when animals accidentally ingest.
As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were
collected.
Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has
sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According
to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.
According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey,
plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being
almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South
[latitude].
Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal
cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
Top Facts -
Solutions
In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An
extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002
reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been
saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are
considering implementing similar measures.
Each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate
hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.
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Stop Pollution! Yes you can help. Use environment friendly reusable bags.