According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used in the world every year, and less than 1% of these are recycled. Recycling a plastic bag continues to be more expensive than producing a new one; for comparison, recycling 1 ton of plastic bags costs around $4000 USD; the same amount of plastic bags sells for $32 USD in the raw materials market.

Where do discarded plastic bags go? In 1975, a study showed that seafaring vessels discarded 8 million pounds (3,628,720 kgs) of plastic into the World’s oceans every year. Plastic bags that wind up in drains and sewers also go to the sea. Plastic bags photo-degrade: over time, they break down into smaller petroleum polymers which are toxic. These substances are ingested by marine fauna, as well as enter the soil through the hydrologic cycle.

The effect on wildlife is catastrophic. Close to 200 species, including whales, seals, dolphins, and sea turtles die from ingesting plastic bags mistaken as food.

What can we do?

Our best bet is to avoid using plastic bags altogether. Use a fabric bag or cart when buying groceries at the supermarket. This saves an average of 6 bags per week, or 24 per month, or 288 per year. That’s about 22,176 plastic bags over the course of a lifetime; if one out of five people did this, we would save approximately 1,330,560,000,000 plastic bags.

Bangladesh has forbidden the use of plastic bags; China has prohibited plastic bags being handed out for free. Ireland was the first country in Europe to impose a tax on plastic bags in 2002, which reduced their consumption by 90%. Rwanda prohibited plastic bags in 2005; other countries, like Israel, Canada, Western India, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, and Singapore have prohibited them or are in the process of doing so. In 2007, San Francisco became the first city to forbid the use of pastic bags; Oakland and Boston are currently in the process to do so as well.

Since plastic bags are made from polyethylene, a derivative of petroleum, reducing their use will likely save oil. Likely this will reduce the problems associated with oil consumption somewhat. It is expected that China will conserve 37 million oil barrels per year thanks to its plastic bag prohibition.