Hundreds of billions of plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, with less than 1% being recycled as it is more expensive to recycle bags than produce new ones. Most plastic bags are not recycled and instead end up polluting soils, waterways and oceans, having catastrophic effects on wildlife which often ingest or become entangled in plastic bags, mistaking them for food. Many countries and jurisdictions have implemented bans on plastic bags to reduce their environmental impact.

1. Somewhere between 500 billion and a
trillion plastic bags are consumed
worldwide each year.
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2. Less than 1% of bags are recycled. It
cost more to recycle a bag than to
produce a new one.
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3. “There's harsh economics behind bag
recycling: It costs Rs. 172,000 to
process and recycle 1,000 kg of plastic
bags, which can then be sold on the
commodities market for Rs. 1,376”
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4. Then…
Where Do They Go?
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5. Of the lot that we throw out as wastes,
a lot of them end up in contaminating
soils and waterways
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6. A study in 1975, showed oceangoing vessels
together dumped 8 million pounds of plastic
annually. The real reason that the world's landfills
weren't overflowing with plastic was because most
of it ended up in an ocean-fill
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7. Bags get blown around…
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8. …to different parts of our lands
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9. …and to our seas, lakes and rivers.
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10. Bags find their way into the sea via
drains and sewage pipes
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11. Plastic bags have even been found
floating north of the Arctic Circle
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12. Plastic bags account for over 10
percent of the debris washed up on
the Indian coastline
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13. Plastic bags photodegrade:
Over time they break down into
smaller, more toxic petro-polymers
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14. The effect on wildlife can be catastrophic
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15. Birds become terminally entangled
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16. Nearly 200 different species of sea life
including corals, whales, dolphins, and
turtles die due to plastic bags
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17. They often choke to death ingesting
plastic bags which they mistake for
jellyfish, their favourite food
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18. So…
What do we do?
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19. If we use a cloth bag,
we can save 6 bags a week
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20. That's 24 bags a month
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21. That's 288 bags a year
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22. That's 22,176 bags
in an average life time
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23. If just 1 out of 5 people
in India did this we would save
4,435,200,000,000 bags
over our life time
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24. Plastic shopping bags are
made from polyethylene:
a thermoplastic made from oil
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25. Reducing plastic bags will decrease
foreign oil dependency
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26. China has banned plastic bags
and will thus save 37 million
barrels of oil each year!
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27. Canada, Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, and
many others world over have banned or are
moving toward banning the plastic bags!
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28. On this June 5, World Environment Day,
2008, or June 8, World Ocean Day let’s decide
to make Our India plastic free!
Say
NO
to Plastic Bags!
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29. You Can Make A Difference!
Thank You
Ramjee Nagarajan
Ramjee.N@gmail.com
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