Plastic Bag PollutionJENNIFER GARNERCSU FRESNO

The Problem - Scale• The United States consumes 100 billion plastic bags every year, or about a bag per person per day. • Laid end-to-end, they could circle the equator 1,330 times.

• 1 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide each year.• That’s almost 2 million every minute.

• The worldwide production of plastic is currently at 35 kilograms per person per year. • On average, it is increasing by 3% per year.

• Less than 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the U.S.

• Plastic production comprises 4.6% of the annual petroleum consumption in the US, using roughly 331 million barrels of oil every year.• About 6% of the worldwide oil consumption is used for the production of plastic.

• A December 2014 study derived from 6 years of research by the 5 Gyres Institute estimated that 5.25 trillion plastic particles, weighing 269,000 tons, are floating on the surface of the ocean.

The Problem – Oceanic Pollution• In the 2009 International Coastal Cleanup, the Ocean Conservancy found that plastic bags were the 2nd most common pollutant, at 10% of items collected.• In 2008 they reported that plastic litter had increased by 126% since the first cleanup was done in 1994.

• A study done in February 2015 by UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) found that every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean. • That’s 5 grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world. • In 2025, the annual input is estimated to be twice that amount.

• There is no doubt that plastic comprises most of the oceanic litter worldwide. • Its proportion varies between 60% and 95% of the total marine debris.

• On New Zealand beaches they found over 100,000 raw plastic granules per meter of coast.

• Today billions of pounds of plastic can be found in the oceanic gyres, making up about 40% of the world’s ocean surfaces.

The Problem – Oceanic Pollution• Plastic in the ocean photodegrades, or is broken down by UV light, into smaller and smaller particles that remain plastic and toxic.

• Dr. Richard Thompson of the University of Plymouth, UK has identified plastic particles thinner than the diameter of a human hair. • He estimates that there are 100,000 particles of plastic per sq. km of seabed and 300,000

particles per sq. km of the ocean’s surface.

• Samples of seawater from Europe, India, Japan and the Pacific Ocean were contaminated with up to 150 ppm of these small plastic particles.

• These tiny particles of plastic, often called “mermaid tears,” are the 2nd most common plastic litter found on UK beaches, according to the Marine Conservation Society’s 2007 data and a Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) report.

The Problem – Marine Biodiversity• There is now 6x more plastic debris in parts of the North Pacific Ocean than zooplankton.

• Laist (1997) identified over 250 marine species known to be affected by entanglement and ingestion of plastics. • These include: turtles; penguins; albatrosses; shorebirds, gulls and auks; coastal birds other than seabirds;

baleen whales, toothed whales and dolphins; seals, sea lions and fur seals; manatees; sea otters; fish and crustaceans.

• The number of known affected species is now closer to 267.

• Over 100 species of seabirds are known to ingest plastic artifacts and/or become entangled with them.

• Plastics kill more than 100,000 sea turtles and birds every year.

• Exposure to plastic debris has been clearly documented for marine organisms at all trophic levels (every level of the food chain).

The Problem – Recycling• Less than 1% of plastic bags are recycled each year.

• Recycling one ton of plastic bags costs $4,000.

• Only 13.3% of plastic packaging was recycled in 2008.

• In 2009, almost 30 million tons of plastics were produced in the US, and only around 2 million tons were recycled (6.7%).

• Only 9% of plastic bags, sacks, and wraps were recycled in 2009. • 3,470 tons, or $694,000 worth, were discarded.

• Only about 1 in every 200 plastic bags ever find their way to a recycling unit.

The Problem – Human Health Impacts• Detectable levels of bisephenol A (BPA) from plastics have been found in the urine of 95% of adults in the United States.• BPA free is not better. You are already exposed!

• A 2010 study in the Annual Review of Public Health found that BPA has endocrine-disrupting properties. • Tests indicate the possibility of health risks such as early sexual maturation, decreased male fertility and

aggressive behavior.

• Because plastics are found worldwide, there is no population that hasn’t been exposed to them.

Solutions – Tax Plastic Bags• After Ireland implemented a €0.15 charge per plastic bag in 2002, bag consumption dropped by about 94%.

• In 2008, the average person in Ireland used 27 plastic bags.• The average person in Britain used 220.

• Revenues from the tax are over 30x the costs of collection; in the first year they amounted to €12 million; in the next year, €13–14 million.

• They found a significant reduction in visible litter: between January 2002 and April 2003 the number of ‘‘clear’’ areas (no evidence of plastic bag litter) increased by 21%, while the number of areas without ‘‘traces’’ increased by 56%.

• Furthermore, the tax became very popular with the people, who radically changed their shopping habits.

Solutions – Tax or Ban Plastic Bags• At least 16 African countries have established bans on certain types of plastic bags.

• Many European countries tax plastic bags or ban free distribution.

• Over 150 U.S. cities and counties ban or require fees for plastic bags.

• U.S. cities with bag bans include San Francisco (as of 2007), Portland (2011), Seattle (2012), Austin (2013), Los Angeles (2014), Dallas (to begin in 2015), and Chicago (2015).

• In August 2014, California became the first US state to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores.

• Bans in Kauai, Maui and Hawaii counties took effect between 2011 and 2013.

• Legislation is pending in New Jersey and Puerto Rico that would also ban single-use bags.

Solutions – Reusable Bags• The global consumption of plastic bags is equivalent to every person on the planet using about 166 plastic bags every year.

• If a family of 4 stopped using plastic bags, there would be 664 fewer plastic bags to release toxins, pollute the oceans, waste energy during manufacturing, and kill animals.

• If everyone switched to reusable bags instead of plastic, we could save millions of barrels of oil during production, prevent millions of tons of plastic pollution, and save thousands of animal lives every year.

• As consumers, we can also pressure companies to use less plastic packaging in their products. • 40% of the plastic produced every year is disposed of within a year because it is only used for packaging. • This generates a huge amount of waste that we can easily reduce by becoming aware and changing our

habits.

• We should also strive to increase the percentage of plastics that are successfully recycled, as this can help reduce our pollution as well as our production of new plastics.

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