Plastic Bags Usage Statistics

The average american family takes home almost 1 500 plastic shopping bags a year nrdc according to the worldwatch institute around 4 5 trillion plastic bags was created in 2002.

Plastic bags usage statistics. This is our main data entry on plastics with a particular focus on its pollution of the environment. Wales was the first to do so in 2011 followed by northern ireland in 2013 and scotland in 2014. We have also produced an faqs on plastics page which attempts to answer additional common questions on the topic. This web page is a brief summary of plastic materials specific data.

Roughly 80 percent of those bags were used in north america and western europe. If you must use plastic try to choose 1 pete or 2 hdpe which are the most commonly recycled plastics. According to waste management only 1 percent of plastic bags are returned. To introduce a charge for single use plastic bags.

The average american family takes home almost 1 500 plastic shopping bags a year. Every year one trillion plastic bags single use are used equating to 2 million per minute. Keiren last updated on june 6 2019 10 comments. In ireland they introduced a 15c plastic bag tax and reduced their usage by 90 in one year.

Avoid plastic bags and polystyrene foam as both typically have very low recycling rates. A slide deck summary of global plastics is available here. Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. Environmental damage from plastic bags.

Volunteer at a beach cleanup. Different countries have different usage levels but the entire world has to commit to reducing this usage. Seek out alternatives to the plastic items that you rely on. Every year americans.

England was the last country in the u k. Some 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags including large trash bags thick shopping bags and thin grocery bags were produced globally in 2002. The floods in bangladesh in 1988 1998 were made more severe because plastic bags clogged drains. Plastic resins are also used in a variety of container and packaging products such as pet beverage bottles hdpe bottles for milk and water and a wide variety of other resin types used in other plastic containers bags sacks wraps and lids.

About 500 billion single use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. According to a report in 2004 roughly 80 percent of those bags were used in north america and western europe. The first synthetic plastic bakelite was produced in 1907 marking the beginning of the global plastics industry. 10 facts about single use plastic bags.

The government has now banned plastic bags. It is now 22 cents.