Introduced merely 25 years ago, plastic bags are accumulating in our environment at an alarming rate. They're everywhere: strewn along roadways, stuck in trees, and piled up beneath our kitchen sinks. New, eco-conscious businesses are helping battle this growing problem by raising awareness and offering effective, affordable, high-quality products that help reduce plastic bag consumption.
An estimated 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide every year. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 12,000,000 barrels of oil are required to produce the 100 billion used annually. Retailers spend an estimated $4 billion on their plastic store bags, passing the costs on to consumers.
A grass roots movement is gaining momentum worldwide as fed-up individuals, environmental groups, governments and visionary retailers pursue the common goal of reversing this trend. The focus of these initiatives is to reduce consumption and encourage the use of reusable bags.
Although single use plastic bags are free to shoppers in the U.S., the cost to society is enormous. Each year, billions of plastic bags end up as ugly, wind-blown litter. Also, despite the common belief that plastic bags decompose and disappear, they actually slowly break down into toxic bits that pollute our oceans, rivers, lakes and soil. In addition, countless animals, most notably marine mammals, choke to death after mistaking plastic bags for food.
Things are starting to happen in the U.S. with over 30 Alaskan towns outright banning them and a report that New York City is considering a consumer based bag tax modeled after Ireland's enormously successful PlasTax.
Forward-thinking environmental groups and governments suggest reusable shopping bags as an important part of the solution. Reusable bags manufactured from organically grown cotton is the most environmentally conscious choice.
source: http://www.theorganicreport.com/pages/445_reusable_bags_tackle_plastic_bag_mess.cfm 21nov04
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