The average reusable bag has the lifespan of more than 700 disposable plastic bags.

Ireland is the first European country to impose a tax on plastic copy bags. This has decreased plastic shopping bag consumption by 90% since 2002, reducing overall plastic bag usage by 1.08 billion.

Think paper bags are better? The United States cuts down 14 million trees per year simply to supply the demand for paper shopping bags.

According to the British Antarctic Survey, discarded plastic bags have been found as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as the Falkland Islands.

Thanks to their light weight, plastic bags are the debris most likely to fly away from landfills, settling instead in trees, storm drains, beaches and the ocean.

A plastic bag takes 450 years to biodegrade. Imagine a trillion of them!

The United States alone uses approximately 100 billion new plastic bags per year. The average person goes through between 350 and 500.  The recycling of plastic emits heavy metals into the air, causing extreme air pollution.

An estimated one million birds, 100,000 turtles and other sea animals die of starvation each year after ingesting discarded plastic bags that block their digestive tracks.