Did you know that Americans use 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year and that globally we use over one trillion?
Here in the U.S., that’s roughly 365 bags per person each year. Of those, only 13% are recycled leaving 87 billion bags that go to landfills or become environmental pollution. Bags in a landfill will take 1,000 years to degrade while those left in the environment will “photo-degrade” becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute our land. We can’t forget that plastic bags are made from fossil fuels. It takes 12 million barrels of oil to make the bags we use in the United States each year.
MAKE IT YOUR ONE THING:
Using even one reusable bag each week can make a real difference reducing pollution and your carbon footprint while helping to protect wildlife. Recycling the remaining plastic bags is just as important. You can make your ONE THING even bigger by collecting plastic bags from friends, family members, and neighbors and recycling for them. You can find a recycling location near you at BagandFilmRecycling.org. Visit The Center for Biological Diversity for more about how plastics threaten our environment. Give it a try and MAKE IT YOUR ONE THING.