Single-use Plastic Bag Facts

• Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture.
• It only takes about 14 plastic bags for the equivalent of the gas required to drive one mile.
• Target gives away enough plastic bags a year to wrap around the Earth 7 times.
• The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year.
• According to Waste Management, only 1 percent of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means that the average family only recycles 15 bags a year; the rest ends up in landfills 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 have 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 don't break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.

Learn more about how plastic pollution threatens wildlife.

Learn more about the problem with plastic bags.