Plastic Grocery Bag FAQs By the Numbers

Project updates: Throughout the month of November, Artesian will be working on Tilney Street to complete wastewater infrastructure installation; a portion of Tilney Street will be closed to through traffic. Weather permitting, the Towns Chestnut Street rehabilitation project continues into the beginning of November; we ask that there be no parking on Chestnut Street, from Coulter Street to New Street. Water main work in the area of Mill Street and Walnut Street will also continue into November. Should water service be disrupted, a CodeRed call will be sent to the affected area. To register for CodeRed, please see the following link. More Info

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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.