Plastic Bags Brochure

Did You Know…? Did You Know…? KELLER IMPROVEMENT TEAM

 The average American uses between  The United Nations estimates that 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If there are 46,000 pieces of plastic per everyone in the United States tied their square mile in the world’s oceans. annual consumption of plastic bags  Plastic bags and other plastic garbage Are you a together in a giant thrown into the ocean kill as many as chain, the chain 1,000,000 sea creatures every year! would reach Bag around the Earth 760 times!

 Windblown plastic bags are so preva- Monster? lent in South Africa that a cottage in- dustry has sprung up harvesting up to 30,000 plastic bags a month to weave into hats and handbags. – BBC

 The world’s largest landfill can be found floating between Hawaii and San Francisco. Wind and sea currents carry marine debris from all over the world to what is now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This “landfill” is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and thousands of pounds of our discarded trash, mostly plastics. Each year hundreds of thou- For more information please contact a KIT sands of sea birds representative or check out our Sources below. and marine life Sources: die from digested Trash floating in plastics mistaken the ocean... Paper or Plastic?, Healthwell for food. –LA Reusable Bags Tackle Plastic Bag Mess, Organic Trade Association Times “Paper Cuts: Recovering the Paper Landscape”, Abramowitz & Mattoon, Worldwatch Institute, Do you or someone you know have gobs and gobs of Washington DC, 1999 plastic bags? Well maybe it’s time you learn some Keep the Sea Plastic Free—Bin It, Australian facts and take some action on our growing concern Government, Department of the Environment and on plastic bag consumption. HeritageSea Turtles Don't Shop, Earth Resource Foundation Learn the Facts and Take Some Action

10 Things You Can Do to Create a Re- 6. Write a letter to the newspaper ex- Background on Bag Consumption usable Bag Habit in your Community plaining the environmental problems with paper and plastic bags. Single-use Plastic Bags:  First introduced in 1977, single-use bags, 1. Wage a campaign in your town or city to 7. Start a ChicoBag fundraiser to raise now account for 4 out of every 5 bags handed out end the use of single-use bags by encouraging money for an environmental or litter pre- at grocery stores. legislators to implement a grocery bag fee. Con- vention group. Contact fundrais- tact [email protected] for more informa- [email protected] for more information!  According to the Wall Street tion. Journal, 100 billion plastic shopping 8. Stage a Bag Monster sighting in your bags are consumed in the United 2. Talk to local community community. Contact bagmon- States annually. and environmental groups about [email protected] to set it up!  Cutting single-use bag waste in half would the bag issue and find out if reduce our oil consumption by more than 2,000 they want to get involved. 9. Give your friends and family reusable barrels a day and keep out 73,000 tons of rubbish bags as gifts for birthdays, graduation, out of landfills. 3. Create a petition asking for your city to take housewarming parties, and special holi-  EPA research has shown that only 1% of on the single-use bag problem. Circulate it at days. plastic bags get recycled while about 20% of pa- schools, universities, the library, grocery stores, per bags are recycled. farmer’s markets, and anywhere else where you 10. Set a good example by just saying no  Recycling plastic saves twice as can connect with your neighbors. to single-use bags when you’re at the store. much energy as burning it in an in- Others in line will follow suit! cinerator. 4. Encourage local retailers to start a smart bagging policy with these tips: - Offer a bag Single-use Paper Bags: refund to customers who bring their own bags. -  Paper bags generate 70% more air and 50

Place signs reminding people to bring their own times more water pollutants than plas- bags. - Create a reusable bag drop-off for others tic bags. to use. - Create an in-store bag recycling pro- Paper in landfills doesn’t break down gram. - Sell reusable bags in their store. faster than plastic.

5. Bring an extra reusable bag to the grocery Solution: store the next time you shop and give it away to Reusable bags! A sturdy, reusable shopping bag a stranger who doesn’t have needs only be used 11 times to have a lower envi- them. Ask them to “Pay it For- ward” and give a bag away the ronmental impact than using dis- next time they shop. posable plastic bags.