I am sure you have noticed all the grocery bag options in the stores lately - strong, reusable bags of varying shapes and sizes. All directed at reducing the millions of plastic bags that end up in our landfills.
In the past few months, I have become much better at remembering to return our reusable canvas bags to the car so they are available for use in our shopping. I use these bags for all our shopping - not just the grocery store. When we empty our produce into the bins in the fridge, I stuff the bags into my canvas bag and reuse these as well. I feel like it is a small thing we can do that will benefit the environment.
And honestly, it is not a difficult thing at all.
I was so pleased to notice at Farm Boy when we were shopping last night that all three customers at the till had brought their own reusable bags. If we all made this shift, just imagine the positive impact on our environment and our pocket book. After all, who do you think is paying for all these bags?
Some interesting and compelling facts from Reusablebags.com:
Top Facts - Consumption
- Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
- According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
- According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)
- According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999 the U.S. alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring 14 million trees to be cut down.
- 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 per person. An estimated .7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.
Top Facts - Environmental Impact
- Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
- Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
- 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 BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.
- According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude].
- Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
If you haven't made the shift, I encourage you to join the growing numbers who have.
