Plastic Bags

• Shoppers worldwide are using 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags per year.  This translates to about a million bags every minute across the globe, or 150 bags a year for every person on earth.  And the number is rising.

• Plastic bags are made of polyethylene - more commonly known as polythene - they are hazardous to manufacture and are said to take up to 1,000 years to decompose.

• Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags.

• The energy needed to manufacture and transport disposable bags eats up more resources and creates global warming emissions.

• The production of plastic bags requires petroleum and often natural gas, both non-renewable resources that increase our dependency on foreign suppliers. Additionally, prospecting and drilling for these resources contributes to the destruction of fragile habitats and ecosystems around the world.

Plastic Beverage Bottles

• In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 38 bottles per person, which equals about 50 billion plastic bottles consumed, with only 23% being recycled. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills, each year.

• Manufacturing bottled water uses over 1.5 million barrels of oil  per year. In one year, thats enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.

• When plastic bottles end up in landfills they take 700 years before they start to decompose.

 

 

Manufacturing, Consuming, and Discarding Plastics

• About 250 billion pounds of raw plastic pellets are produced annually worldwide and turned into a variety of products, from cars and computers to packaging and pens.

• Every year the U.S. makes enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.

• Nearly every piece of plastic EVER made still exists today.

• Americans generate 10.5 million tons of plastic waste a year but recycle only 1 or 2 % of it.

• Only 2.5% of plastic bottles are presently recycled in Europe.

• The toxic chemical ingredients needed to make plastic produces pollution during the manufacturing process.

• During rainfall, discarded plastic litter is washed down stormdrains which lead directly to our rivers and oceans.