SEATURTLE.ORGBag Facts
REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE
From:
http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=738309b53c7c5ae0
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That’s 1 million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
• According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year — 900 per person.
• According to Australia’s Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year — 326 a person. An estimated, 7 percent or 50 million end up as litter each year.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
• As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.
• Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats and even bags. According to the British Broadcasting Corp., one group harvests 30,000 a month.
In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90 percent. About 18 million liters of oil was saved because of the reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.