Green Things

Reusable shopping bags 

The following information is from

 http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bag-facts.

FACTS ABOUT THE PLASTIC BAG PANDEMIC

• 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year, worldwide.
• About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.
• A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
• More than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps were discarded in 2008.
• Only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled (BBC).
• The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year.
• Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts (2008)
• Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.
• Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.

There is really no excuse not to use reusable shopping bags. They are inexpensive. If you are on a budget, just buy one or two every time you go to the store until you have a collection. They hold a lot more than a regular plastic sack which means less trips back to the car to unload groceries. They are washable. You can use them anywhere- the library, the grocery store, the farmers market, the mall. And most importantly, you are helping to do your part to save our Earth every time you use them : )