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10 facts about single-use plastic bags

Australians use 6 billion plastic bags a year, which require 720 thousand barrels of oil to manufacture.

It only takes about 8.7 plastic bags for the equivalent of the gas required to drive one kilometer.

Australians are the second highest producers of waste, per person, in the world with each of us sending over 690 kilograms of waste to landfill each year

According to Waste Management, only 3 percent of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means that the average person only recycles 7 bags a year; the rest end up in landfills or as litter.

Up to 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution enters the ocean from land.

At least 267 different species have been affected by plastic pollution in the ocean.

100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags annually.

One in three leatherback sea turtles has been found with plastic in their stomachs.

Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes.

It takes 500 (or more) years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Unfortunately, the bags do not break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.

(reproduced from https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/sustainability/plastic_bag_facts.html )