Data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency shows that somewhere between 500
billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.Less than 1% of bags are recycled.
It cost more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one.
- Christian Science Monitor News Paper
“There's harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic
bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32”
- Jared Blumenfeld
(Director of San Francisco's Department of the Environment)
| Then… Where Do They Go? | So… What do we do? | ||
| | |||
| A study in 1975, showed oceangoing vessels together dumped 8 million pounds of plastic annually. The real reason that the world's landfills weren't overflowing with plastic was because most of it ended up in an ocean-fill. | Bags get blown around…
| If we use a cloth bag, we can save 6 bags a week we ca
| That's 24 bags a month
|
| …to different parts of our lands
| …and to our seas, lakes and rivers.
| That's 288 bags a year
| That's 22,176 bags in an average life time in
|
| Bags find their way into the sea via drains and sewage pipes
| Plastic bags have been found floating north of the Arctic Circle near Spitzbergen, and as far south
| If just 1 out of 5 people in our country did we would save 1,330,560,000,000 bags over our life time
| Bangladesh has banned plastic bags
|
| Plastic bags account for over 10 percent of the debris washed up on the U.S. coastline
| Plastic bags photodegrade: Over time they break down into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers
| China has banned free plastic bags China hasbanned free plastic bags
| Ireland took the lead in Europe, taxing plastic bags in 2002 and have now reduced plastic bag |
| Nearly 200 different species of sea life including whales, dolphins, seals and turtles die due to plastic bags |
| On March 27th 2007, San Francisco becomes first U.S. city to ban plastic bags - NPR.org (National Public Radio)
| It is possible...
|
