help the Earth
These groups are responding to public outcry demanding action against a product that, on one hand, seems very simple—but which is harming the world’s oceans, experts warn. Plastic bags start out as fossil fuels and end up as deadly waste in landfills and the ocean.
Birds often mistake shredded plastic bags for food, filling their stomachs with toxic debris. For hungry sea turtles, it's nearly impossible to distinguish between jellyfish and floating plastic shopping bags. Fish eat thousands of tons of plastic a year, transferring it up the food chain to bigger fish and marine. plastic takes up to 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill.
Recycling plastic takes 88% less energy than making plastic from raw materials.
Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the Earth four times.
Americans throw away 35 billion plastic bottles every year.
Only about 25% of the plastic produced in the U.S. is recycled.
If we recycled the other 75% we could save 1 billion gallons of oil and 44 million cubic yards of landfill space annually.
Using aluminum or glass containers is always preferable over plastic.
A plastic bottle of drinking water contains on average 4 cents worth of water.
By using reusable drink containers an average person can eliminate the need for 100 disposable bottles per year.
