- About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.
- A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
- More than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps were discarded in 2008.
- The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year.
- Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts (2008)
- Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.
- Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.
Super Icky!!
I don't know about you, but when I heard those statistics, I knew that this was one area I could easily help with. You can too!
Use reusable bags when you are shopping. I don't just mean grocery shopping either, although that is a great first step. But, how about bringing your own bag when shopping for school supplies, clothes, and other fun stuff?
Take it one step further and refuse to use those little plastic baggies for your veggies and fruit. I haven't used one in years! If you can't quite let go of that habit yet, at least reuse your little baggies for produce.
Have fun finding cute and fashionable reusable bags! There are tons of great ones out there or decorate your own with your family. Make a difference today!
We started using canvas bags almost 30 years ago. The military exchanges and commissaries had them for sale and encouraged their use in the mid 80's. So often I forget to bring the bags into the stores. I just have them put the groceries back in the cart and bag them when I get to the car.
ReplyDeleteThanks for spreading the word.