THE FACTS
A single plastic bag can take up to 1000 years to photo degrade on land and up to 450 years in the water. They never truly degrade but instead break down into smaller particles that leach chemicals into the water and soil as well as absorb toxic chemicals.
Between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year with less than 1% ever being recycled.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. alone uses 100 Billion plastic bags annually, which is the energy equivalent of 12 Million barrels of oil and has an estimated cost to retailers of $4 billion. This cost is passed on to the consumer.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that more than 4 million tons of plastic bags, sacks, and wraps were reported to be generated in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream in 2007 alone. (US EPA, 2007)
Retail bags cause equipment and operational problems at recycling facilities, landfills and waste transfer stations. The machinery on trucks and separators is frequently impaired because plastic bags wrap around wheels, gears and other parts of the equipment, forcing work to stop while someone extracts the plastic and restarts the process. This daily occurrence causes worker injuries as well. (FDEP Bag Report 2010)
Plastic bags are light and hard to contain. Because of their light weight, plastic bags fly easily in wind, float along readily in the currents of rivers and oceans, get tangled up in trees, fences, poles, and block the drainage. Some waste management professionals consider plastic retail bags to be the number one “fly away” issue at landfills. Litter flying off landfills angers nearby residents, requires extra work to pick up and return the escaped trash, and may require additional daily landfill cover. (FDEP 2010)
The bulk of these bags end up in our landfills and our oceans, killing hundreds of thousands of birds, turtles, whales, and other wildlife who mistake them for food. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
But plastic bags are not just deadly for our ocean wildlife. In India, plastic bag regulations were enacted to protect cows since they were attracted to the bags by the food once found inside and would eat the entire bag. As more cows died, with stomachs full of plastic bags, measures had to be taken. (FDEP 2010)
Scavenger birds and animals at landfills are also injured or killed. Scavengers and birds of prey go after rodents who become entangled in the bags and end up digesting large amounts of the plastic. (Molina & Garrett, 1998) Deer, raccoons, possums, bears and other garbage and landfill scavengers have also been found with retail bags within their guts. (FDEP 2010)
Plastic starts as large amounts of very small, spherical pellets called “nurdles.” These pellets are small and lightweight, making them highly mobile. During the manufacturing of plastic bags small plastic particulates are released and escape from the manufacturing plant and degrade in the environment.
As nurdles hit waterways they break down into smaller and smaller plastic balls resembling oceanic food items, like fish eggs. One study performed on seabirds showed that 55% of bird species studied had ingested plastic particles. (Lee & Moser 1992) It is unknown at this time if birds absorb chemicals from these nurdles into their bodies but it is believed that this pollution does affect the entire food chain.
Plastic bags are made from natural gas or petroleum with many other chemicals involved. As bags degrade, some of these chemicals are released into the water or atmosphere. In addition, the nurdles have actually been found to absorb and become a transport medium for toxic chemicals, including PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) and DDE (Dischlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, a DDT breakdown product). (FDEP 2010, Mato, Isobe, Takada, Kanehiro, Ohtake, &Kaminuma, 2001)
Earthwise has been on the forefront of the fight against plastic bags since 2005, making it our life’s work to mitigate the need for them and provide eco-friendly alternatives. One reusable shopping bag can replace thousands of plastic bags over the course of its lifetime. Most of Earthwise bags are recyclable as No. 5 and our new Tyvek® bags are curbside and in-store recyclable as a No 2. We even offer bags made with 100% recycled plastic bottles (rPET).If you want to avoid plastic altogether, we have cotton and organic cotton totes as well. Providing sustainable options is our business.
Want to learn more, check out our news page for links to articles, photos, and video footage. Want to get involved? Our community page provides links to a number of great organizations.
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