Each year, an estimated 500,000,000,000 billion to 1 trillion ugly plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. An estimated 4 billion plastic bags end up as litter each year. Tied end to end that’s enough to circle the earth 63 times.

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. The plastic bag is an established part of Australian shopping – with approximately 6.9 billion plastic bags used by Australian consumers every year. However, the perceived environmental impacts of plastic shopping bags have raised community concern.

Plastic Bag Flows in Australia

Approximately 6.9 billion plastic bags are consumed annually in Australia , with 6 billion of these being high density polyethylene (HDPE) such as supermarket singlet bags, and 0.9 billion being low density polyethylene (LDPE) such as boutique bags. 67% of HDPE and 25% LDPE bags are imported, with the remainder locally produced.

Supermarkets supply consumers with 53% of the total number of plastic shopping bags used annually. Recycling levels are currently low (3%). Plastic shopping bags appear to be approximately 2% of the Australian litter stream, although reliable data on the total litter stream is unavailable. The impact of this litter is increased due to the material’s persistence in the environment and capacity to injure wildlife, particularly in marine environments.

Source:( Plastic Shopping Bags – Analysis of Levies and Environmental Impacts Final Report DECEMBER 2002 Prepared in association with RMIT Centre for Design and Eunomia Research and Consulting Ltd)

Facts – Consumption

• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)
• Worldwide, an estimated 4 billion plastic bags end up as litter each year. Tied end to end that’s enough to circle the earth 63 times.
• 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.
• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
• According to the BBC, only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled.

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.
• During Clean Up Australia 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.

Facts - Solutions

• In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
• 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.
• Each high quality Nonwoven bag you use has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.