What is a summary of quick facts about disposable plastic bag (DPB) use?
Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion DPBs 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 DPBs, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. 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. Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating DPBs mistaken for food. DPBs don’t biodegrade – they break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest. New biodegradable plastic-corn blend or plastic-sugar blend bags are a step in the right direction where composting facilities are available, but consumers will need a lot of education to learn to separate them from DPBs, and they do not decompose quickly in most industrial or municipal land
