Don't Panic

NOTHING IN LIFE IS TRULY FREE - the facts are these:

- 4 out of 5 bags in stores are now plastic

- Retailers Spend $4 billion on buying plastic bags each year, each bag costs retailers about 2 – 5 cents

- The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in 4 trips to the store. In a year that equals about 720 just from grocery shopping

- 600 plastic bags are used per second in the United States

- 380 billion to 1 Trillion plastic bags consumed each year in the United States

- If 380 billion Plastic bags are used in the U.S. every year that equals more that 1,200 bags per U.S. Resident

- If 380 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. approximately 100 Billion are from shopping bags alone

- It takes 12 million barrels of oil to make 100 billion plastic bags annually

- 12 million barrels of oil produce 240-million gallons of gasoline

- If the average car makes 20mpg, and the average person drives 12,000 mils per year, 240 million gallons of gas would power 400,000 cars.

- The average working life of a plastic bag is 20 minutes, store to home, and then it is discarded.

- Out of all the Bags used in one year only 1%-5% are recycled

- An equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved for every ton of plastic bags reused or recycled

- If we are throwing away 100 billion bags that equates to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil (the numbers would triple if you included all plastic bags into the calculations, and that is not including the rest of the plastics used annually)

- It costs the United States $25 million annually to landfill discarded plastic bags

- Out of 251 million tons of waste 11.7% of U.S. waste comes from plastic

- The average college student throws away 640 lbs of material waste each

-In Los Angeles, 90 percent of the underground space allocated for landfills has already been occupied

- It costs taxpayers 2.6 billion annually to support landfills

- Nationally we spend $43.5 billion on garbage disposal in a year

- On average it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash vs. $50 to send it to the land fill or $65 -$75 to incinerate it

- It costs taxpayers about $90 every time a city worker goes up in a cherry picker to remove plastic bags from a tree

- In 2007 the U.S. population was 301,139,947

- In 2007 139 million people in the United States played taxes

- In California the population was approximately 36,457,549

- Californians Discard about 19 billion plastic bags annually, that is about 390,460 tons

- In Los Angeles county the population was more than 9,948,081

- Consumers in Los Angeles use 2.3 billion – 6 billion plastic bags per year

- Plastic bags make up about 25% by weight, and 19% by volume of the tonnage of debris scooped each year from 30 storm drain catch basins in Los Angeles

- Whole foods markets offer 10 cents back on every bag a shoppers reuse. reusable green bags are displayed at the counter for $1.50 each

- Ralph’s gives 5 cents back for every reusable bag three cents for every plastic or paper bag reused. You can purchase a reusable tote bag at Ralph’s for $1.00

Plastic is NOT bio-degradable

They actually go through a process called photo-degradation; breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate both soil and water, and end up entering the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.

toxic avenger

FACT: In the human body BPA* mimics the hormone Estrogen
FACT: PBDEs* interfere with the thyroid hormone (this controls how quickly the body burns energy, makes proteins, and how sensitive the body should be to other hormones.)
FACT: Billions of kilograms of a number of chemicals used in the manufacture of different types of plastic can leach out of plastic products and cause harm to the brain and reproductive system

*BPA: Bisphenol A: an industrial chemical used to make one type of polycarbonate plastic and used in many products such as refillable beverage containers, compact disks, some plastic eating utensils, and impact-resistant safety, plastic bags and sports equipment. Don't worry, you won't find Polycarbonate plastics in single-serving water bottles. However you will find it in some food and beverage cans as a lining. In high doses it is known to cause genetic damage and harm to brain and cell development.

*PBDEs: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers: are organic compounds that are used as a flame retardant. The EPA has noted that PBDEs are particularly toxic to the developing brains of animals. Studies have shown that even single doses administered to mice during development of the brain can cause permanent changes to behavior, including hyperactivity. In humans it is known to impair the development of the nervous system.

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Roughly 70% of the earth is covered by oceans.

These are the facts, should you choose to accept them or not:

Plastic bags find their way to the marine environment, like most our trash, through the storm drain system
Plastic bags are eaten by sea mammals that mistake the floating mass as jellyfish
100,000 Marine Mammals die every year from eating or becoming ensnared in plastic
Side Note: One million plus Birds die every year from the very same thing
Fifty-percent of all litter in the ocean is some form of plastic
After an animal is killed by plastic bags (or any plastic) its body decomposes and the plastic is released back into the environment where it can and will kill again
Currently, 1,000 miles off the coast of California is the Northern Pacific Gyre. The gyre is a vortex of converging ocean currents (SEE VIDEO IN RIGHT BAR)

STOP!

Why am I talking about this gyre? It's twice the size of Texas and mostly plastic.

That's part a snapshot of the gyre. That's plastic you see and it's currently six times the amount of living life in the gyre; that includes plankton and jellyfish.

OKAY! Back to the list.

46,000 pieces of plastic (of which bags are a considerable amount) can be found in EVERY square mile of ocean
Roughly 90% of the ocean's plastic debris is composed of plastic bags
Plastic is NOT bio-degradable

What you choose to do with these facts is entirely up to you.

SEE WHERE YOUR FAVORITE PLASTIC LIES

Plastic	Common Uses	Adverse Health Effects
Polyvinyl chloride (#3PVC)	Food packaging, plastic wrap, containers for toiletries, cosmetics, crib bumpers, floor tiles, pacifiers, shower curtains, toys, water pipes, garden hoses, auto upholstery, inflatable swimming pools	Can cause cancer, birth defects, genetic changes, chronic bronchitis, ulcers, skin diseases, deafness, vision failure, indigestion, and liver dysfunction
Phthalates (DEHP, DINP, and others)	Softened vinyl products manufactured with phthalates include vinyl clothing, emulsion paint, footwear, printing inks, non-mouthing toys and children’s products, product packaging and food wrap, vinyl flooring, blood bags and tubing, IV containers and components, surgical gloves, breathing tubes, general purpose labware, inhalation masks, many other medical devices	Endocrine disruption, linked to asthma, developmental and reporoductive effects. Medical waste with PVC and pthalates is regularly incinerated causing public health effects from the relese of dioxins and mercury, including cancer, birth defects, hormonal changes, declining sperm counts, infertility, endometriosis, and immune system impairment.
Polycarbonate, with Bisphenol A (#7)	Water bottles	Scientists have linked very low doses of bisphenol A exposure to cancers, impaired immune function, early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hyperactivity, among other problems (Environment California)
Polystyrene	Many food containers for meats, fish, cheeses, yogurt, foam and clear clamshell containers, foam and rigid plates, clear bakery containers, packaging "peanuts", foam packaging, audio cassette housings, CD cases, disposable cutlery, building insulation, flotation devices, ice buckets, wall tile, paints, serving trays, throw-away hot drink cups, toys	Can irritate eyes, nose and throat and can cause dizziness and unconsciousness. Migrates into food and stores in body fat. Elevated rates of lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers for workers.
Polyethelyne (#1 PET)	Water and soda bottles, carpet fiber, chewing gum, coffee stirrers, drinking glasses, food containers and wrappers, heat-sealed plastic packaging, kitchenware, plastic bags, squeeze bottles, toys	Suspected human carcinogen
Polyester	Bedding, clothing, disposable diapers, food packaging, tampons, upholstery	Can cause eye and respiratory-tract irritation and acute skin rashes
Urea- formaldehyde	Particle board, plywood, building insulation, fabric finishes	Formaldehyde is a suspected carcinogen and has been shown to cause birth defects and genetic changes. Inhaling formaldehyde can cause cough, swelling of the throat, watery eyes, breathing problems, headaches, rashes, tiredness
Polyurethane Foam	Cushions, mattresses, pillows	Bronchitis, coughing, skin and eye problems. Can release toluene diisocyanate which can produce severe lung problems
Acrylic	Clothing, blankets, carpets made from acrylic fibers, adhesives, contact lenses, dentures, floor waxes, food preparation equipment, disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, paints	Can cause breathing difficulties, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, weakness, headache and fatigue
Tetrafluoro- ethelyne	Non-stick coating on cookware, clothes irons, ironing board covers, plumbing and tools	Can irritate eyes, nose and throat and can cause breathing difficulties

Will My Plastic Bag Still Be Here in 2507?

By Juliet LapidosPosted Wednesday, June 27, 2007, at 6:20 PM ETDownload the MP3 audio version of this story here, or sign up for The Explainer's free daily podcast on iTunes.
How long will those bags last?Starting July 1, most large grocery stores in the state of California will be legally required to recycle plastic shopping bags. In Europe, even stricter anti-plastic measures are gaining traction. Retailers in Modbury, England, for example, recently committed to an outright plastic-bag ban. News reports have cited a statistic that the ubiquitous receptacles take 500 years to break down in landfills. How do we know?
Actually, we don't. Plastic bags have only been around for about 50 years, so there's no firsthand evidence of their decomposition rate. To make long-term estimates of this sort, scientists often use respirometry tests. The experimenters place a solid waste sample—like a newspaper, banana peel, or plastic bag—in a vessel containing microbe-rich compost, then aerate the mixture. Over the course of several days, microorganisms assimilate the sample bit by bit and produce carbon dioxide; the resultant CO₂ level serves as an indicator of degradation.

Don't Panic

NOTHING IN LIFE IS TRULY FREE - the facts are these:

CONTENTS

Plastic is NOT bio-degradable

toxic avenger

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SEE WHERE YOUR FAVORITE PLASTIC LIES

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Will My Plastic Bag Still Be Here in 2507?