Hundreds of billions of plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, with less than 1% being recycled. Plastic bags end up polluting oceans and landscapes, harming wildlife. Over 200 sea species are known to die from ingesting plastic bags or becoming entangled in them. To reduce plastic bag usage, many countries and cities have implemented bans or taxes on plastic bags, which has led to dramatic usage decreases as high as 90% in some places. Reducing plastic bag consumption would help decrease dependence on foreign oil.
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The Dangers of Plastic Bags
1. Data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency shows that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. National Geographic News September 2, 2003
2. Less than 1% of bags are recycled. It cost more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one. - Christian Science Monitor News Paper
3. There's harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32 - Jared Blumenfeld (Director of San Francisco's Department of the Environment)
5. A study in 1975, showed oceangoing vessels together dumped 8 million pounds of plastic annually. The real reason that the world's landfills weren't overflowing with plastic was because most of it ended up in an ocean-fill - U.S. National Academy of Sciences
9. Bags find their way into the sea via drains and sewage pipes - CNN.com/tecnhology November 16, 2007
10. Plastic bags have been found floating north of the Arctic Circle near Spitzbergen, and as far south as the Falkland Islands - British Antarctic Survey
11. Plastic bags account for over 10 percent of the debris washed up on the U.S. coastline - National Marine Debris Monitoring Program
12. Plastic bags photodegrade: Over time they break down into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers - CNN.com/tecnhology November 16, 2007
30. Israel, Canada, western India, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, and Singapore油油have also banned or are moving toward banning the plastic bag - PlanetSave.com February 16, 2008
31. On March 27th 2007, San Francisco becomes first U.S. city to ban plastic bags油 - NPR.org (National Public Radio)
32. Oakland and Boston are considering a ban - The Boston Globe May 20, 2007
33. Plastic shopping bags are made from polyethylene: a thermoplastic made from oil - CNN.com/tecnhology November 16, 2007