Leftoverbags.com - The Blog

Plastic Bags Statistics - And They’re Not Looking So Good

Petroleum-based grocery bags hit the checkout aisle in 1977. Presented as a revolutionary idea, they are now recognized as an environmental hazard. Just like bottled water, plastic bags are made from crude oil, contributing to global warming.

The Numbers

Up to 1000 - Estimated years for a plastic bag to decompose.
1460 - Plastic bags used in a year by an average family of four in the U.S.
12 million - Barrels of oil used to make the plastic bags that the U.S. consumes annually.
Less than 1% - Percentage of all plastic bags that get recycled in the U.S.
88.5 billion – Plastic bags consumed in the U.S. last year.
500 billion – Estimated plastic bags sold worldwide each year.

The Countries

San Francisco has banned non-biodegradable plastic bags in large grocery stores.
Ireland has a $.20 tax per bag.
France is banning plastic bags starting 2010 and starting 2008 in Paris.
South Africa has banned thin plastic bags
Uganda has banned thin plastic bags and has taxes on thicker ones.
Kenya is banning plastic bags starting 2008.
Zanzibar Islands have banned all plastic bags.
Mumbai, New Delhi, and two states in India have banned all plastic bags.
Bangladesh has banned all plastic bags.
Taiwan has banned all plastic bags as well as disposable plastic plates, cups, and cutlery.

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/cheap-green-reusing-plastic-bags/?hp

November 14, 2008, 7:42 am
Cheap Green: Reusing Plastic Bags
By Kate Galbraith

Web users are sharing a variety of ways to reuse plastic bags. This project appears on Flickr. Being rather old-fashioned (as well as working for The New York Times), I subscribe to the newspaper — the actual printed copy. It gets plunked down on my doorstep every morning — always in a plastic bag, just in case it rains.

So despite my efforts to take a cloth bag to the grocery store, plastic newspaper bags are piling up under my kitchen sink. They can be recycled: most Whole Foods stores around the country have a plastic-bag deposit bin, for example, and plasticbagrecycling.org also provides localized tips.

But there are plenty of other uses, too. Many websites have sprung up with suggestions, some with exotic notions such as cutting bags into strips and weaving them into dresses or hats. Personally I use newspaper bags to store food in my refrigerator — opened packages of cheese, for example, or a bundle of scones.

I haven’t perished yet. If I had a dog, I would use plastic bags for the obvious.

The better news is that even newspaper bags are getting greener. I emailed with a New York Times spokeswoman, Abbe Serphos, about the bags. She told me:
Our current plastic bags are produced using a high percentage of recycled material and the bags can be recycled.

By early 2009, The Times should be fully converted to utilizing a new bio-degradable polybag for newspaper deliveries around the country. The bag is produced by GP Plastics and they call it their PolyGreen bag. The bag begins to degrade in the open environment within a few months and within two to three years when in a landfill.

With this new technology an additive is mixed with the plastic that causes the finished product to degrade over time, as it is exposed to oxygen in the open environment or in a landfill. In addition to being “oxo-biodegradable” the bag can be recycled along with any other plastic bags. The Times will be the first national newspaper to commit to using this environmentally friendly bag. While this new bag is more expensive, we believe it is an important change to make.

Ultimately, of course, it would be good to get away from plastic bags. Manufacturing them consumes plenty of energy — 40 percent more than paper bags although 40 percent less than paper bags, according to a recent article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which lays out the age-old paper versus plastic debate.

And in grocery stores in New York, the cheapest plastic bags may soon be none at all: Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to slap a 6 cent per tax on plastic bags, following in the tradition of cities in Europe.

“when plastic degrats it just gets smaller and smaller. In the ocean there are so many plastic shreds they compete with plankton and get eaten by whales.”

-its not a suprise. its nothing new. but damn is it sad.