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Plastic bags harm ecosystems and animal life, with 1 trillion used annually worldwide and 380 billion in the US alone. Cleanup costs millions and 12 million barrels of oil are needed for US bags. Only 5% are recycled, and plastic waste can breed pests. Kroger will phase out single-use bags by 2025, and California has already banned them.
By now, it should come as no surprise that plastic shopping bags are terrible for the world’s ecosystems and that the convenience isn’t worth the toll these bags bring on animal life in the oceans and waterways. Around the world, an estimated one trillion plastic bags are used each year, including the 380 billion bags U.S. shoppers carry into stores each year. In addition to the millions of dollars spent on cleanup, 12 million barrels of oil are needed to make the bags used in the United States alone. Only about 5% of all plastic bags are recycled, and most of the plastic created on Earth still exists. Mistakenly believing it to be food, fish and turtles often eat waste plastic and choke to death.
Attention, buyers:
Plastic waste can collect water and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other unwanted pests.
The cost of cleaning up plastic pollution is also rising. An urban community can easily spend $1 million dollars a year collecting thoughtlessly discarded plastic.
In 2018, supermarket chain Kroger announced it would phase out single-use bags from its 2,700 stores by 2025. California has already banned their use in all grocery stores and large retail stores.
