Plastic Bags and what to do about them

Single-Use Bag Facts:

Learn the Facts:

· The average American uses 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the U.S. tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the Earth about 760 times.
· According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999 the U.S. alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring 14 million trees to be cut down.
· Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into small toxic bits. Contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food-chain when mistaken for zooplankton or jellyfish.

Do you have a single-Use Bag Addiction?

1. Have you ever been locked into the belief there are only two choices: “paper or plastic”?

2. Are you afraid that if you stop single-use bags your life will become more difficult or unmanageable?
3. Have you ever chosen to continue single-use despite one or more single-use bag failures? ( I know you have we all have)
4. Have you ever taken a bag when you were able to easily carry your purchase in your hand, pocket or purse? (Again I know we all have done that.)
5. Do you ever you request your purchase be double-bagged or god-forbid, triple bagged? (YA we double-bagged because we had failures in a single bag.)
6. Do you own a reusable bags but “forgot” them at your home or in you car?
7. Have you made a resolution to quit or reduce your single-use bag usage but continue the habit?
8. Have you ever blamed the bagger or store for your habit?
9. Have you ever succumbed to pressure by the bagger to take a bag?
10. Do you feel depressed, guilty, or remorseful after you use or throw away a single-use bag?
11. Have you ever purged your house of single-use bags only to find them piling up again in just a few weeks?
12. Do you have a large stash of single-use bags hidden in a cabinet, closet or drawer?
13. Have you felt awkward refusing a bag when offered?
14. Do you have a hard time saying no when a single-use bags are pushed on you?
15. Have you lied to or misled those around you about how much or how often you use single-use bags?
16. Do you have a “good” reasons for you single-use bag usage?
17. Have you ever had purple or blue fingers from carrying too many plastic bags a once?
18. Have you tried to control your single-use bag by switching from paper to plastic or plastic to paper?
19. Have you ever decided to stop using for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple days?

If you have answered YES to any of the questions, you may have a single-use bag problem.





Take Action:

1. Own and use reusable shopping bags.
2. Raise awareness.
3. Give Friend reusable bags instead of using a gift bag
4. Refuse a bag when you can easily carry your Purchase.
5. If you like when retailers allow you to choose if you want a bag or not, let them know.
6. Bring used plastic bags back to the grocery store for reuse (some place give you a money off you bill if you do.) or for recycling.