Why Go Green?
The Facts: Reusable Bags and the Environment
Why all the buzz about not using plastic bags? Single-use bags, both paper and plastic, represent a huge threat to the environment due to their non-biodegradable nature and drain on natural resources. Carrying a Gypsystyle reusable bag not only prevents thousands of plastic bags from ending up in landfills, but the collection is also made from 100% recycled plastic. Post-consumer plastic soda bottles and wrappers are salvaged before they have the ability to impact on our environment, creating Gypsystyle's signature weightless fabric.
We can all make a move in the right direction and create a better future for our planet if we consider the following facts about plastic and paper bags:
The Facts: Plastic Consumption
- Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. If you do the math, that comes out to more than one million plastic bags per minute!
- According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the United States each year. That's more than 1,200 bags per U.S. resident, per year.
- Approximately 100 billion of the 380 billion are plastic shopping bags.
- An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags.
- Only 1-2% of plastic bags in the United States end up getting recycled.
- It has been reported by the Sierra Club that if every New York resident reduced their consumption of plastic bags by just 1 per year it would reduce waste by 5 million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
- Each high quality reusable bag has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.
The Facts: Paper Consumption
- Americans consume more than 10 billion paper bags per year. Approximately 14 million trees are cut down every year for paper bag production.
- Most of the pulp used for paper shopping bags is virgin pulp, which contains no recycled materials, as it is considered stronger.
- Paper production requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of water as well as toxic chemicals like sulphurous acid, which can lead to acid rain and water pollution.
The Facts: Environmental Impact
- Plastic bags aren't biodegradable. They 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.
- According to the United Kingdom's Marine Conservation Society, more than 100,000 marine animals and 1 million birds die globally each year as a result of plastic pollution.
- The United Nations Environment Program estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean.
- According to Greenpeace, at least 267 marine species are known to have suffered from getting entangled in or ingesting marine debris. Nearly 90% of that debris is plastic.
- Plastic bags as litter have even become commonplace in Antarctica and other remote areas. According to the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone from being rare in the late 1980s and early 1990s to being almost everywhere in Antarctica.
Sources
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