So why do we need to stop using plastic bags anyway? Are they that bad? The truth is that plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade –each plastic bag can average 400 YEARS to breakdown.
Here’s the Facts:
- Approx. 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per US resident, per year.
- Approx. 100 billion of the 380 billion are plastic shopping bags.
- An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags.
- Only 1 to 2% of plastic bags in the USA end up getting recycled.
- The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean.
- Thousands of marine animals and more than 1 million birds die each year as a result of plastic pollution.
- Plastic bags are often mistakenly ingested by animals, clogging their intestines which results in death by starvation. Other animals or birds become entangled in plastic bags and drown or can’t fly as a result.
- Even when they photo-degrade in landfill, the plastic from single-use bags never goes away, and toxic particles can enter the food chain when they are ingested by unsuspecting animals.
- Greenpeace says that at least 267 marine species are known to have suffered from getting entangled in or ingesting marine debris. Nearly 90% of that debris is plastic.
- An estimated 12 million barrels of oil and five of the top six chemicals that produce the most hazardous waste (according to EPA rankings) are used in plastics production
Learn about the truth about paper grocery bags.
46,000: The average number of pieces of plastic in each square mile of ocean.
100,000: The number of marine animals and birds killed each year by plastic bags.
5 Billion: The number of bags that end up loose in the environment as litter every year.
1 Trillion: The number of bags used every year throughout the world (that’s over a million a minute.)
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