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Plastic Grocery Bag FAQs By the Numbers

 

Plastic Bags FAQs By the Numbers:

 

1,000,000,000,000 plastic bags used worldwide each year

102,000,000,000 plastic bags used in the U.S. each year

3,570,000 TONS of bags discarded in U.S. annually

1,000 of plastic bags not used when just one reusable bag is used instead

14 of plastic bags manufactured from the same amount of petroleum a car uses to drive a mile

2 Rank of plastic bags found on Delaware’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day (cigarette butts #1)

1 – the # of people it takes to make a difference

 

Additional Facts:

  • Single use plastic carryout bags have significant impacts on animals including turtles because bags floating in water look like jellyfish, a primary food for turtles, and researchers have commonly found plastic bags in the digestive tracts of dead sea turtles
  • 12 billion barrels of oil used to make the 100 million plastic bags used by Americans each year
  • 380 billion plastic bags or wraps are thrown away in the U.S. each year
  • 17 cents per bag in estimated disposal costs, wasting millions of tax dollars
  • 0 paper bags biodegrade in landfills due to lack of oxygen – Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways
  • After the implementation of a plastic bag fee, the use of plastic shopping bags in Washington, D.C. dropped approximately 60%.  In Ireland a slightly higher fee resulted in approximately a 90% reduction in disposable bag use.
  • When retailers give away “free” bags, their costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices
  • Only one to three percent of plastic bags are ever recycled or reused

 

Additional Facts:

  • Over 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles are killed every year by strangulation from, or ingestion of, plastic bags every year!
  • One Million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide!

 

Reusable Bags:

  • Buy re-usable shopping bags! Keep several in your car so you don’t forget them.
  • Remember to use them for all your shopping needs, not just for groceries.
  • Don’t go back to paper. Paper has its own environmental impact.