Reusable Shopping Bags

Here are a few reasons to switch to reusable shopping bags that I have come across and wanted to pass on. I hope you feel the need to do your part, go ahead and spend a couple bucks on a reusable shopping bag and prevent the following.

-Single-use bags are of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and persist on our planet for up to 1,000 years.

-Australians alone consume about 6.9 billion plastic bags each year, 326 per person. According to Australia's Department of Environment, an estimated 49,600,000 annually end up as litter.

-According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags
-Four out of five grocery bags in the US are now plastic.

-Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistake them for food.

-In a dramatic move to stem a tide of 60,000 metric tons of plastic bag and plastic utensil waste per year, Taiwan banned both last year.

-According to the BBC, only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled

-Target, the second-largest retailer in the U.S., purchases 1.8 billion bags a year.

-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 The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

-Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photo-degrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

-Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.