Every year, an estimated 500-billion plastic bags are used worldwide. That’s an absolutely staggering number. When you take into consideration that just one bag has the potential to damage the environment, the other 499 billion are just overwhelming.

There are around 6-billion people on are planet. So to do the math, each man, woman and child uses around 83 plastic bags per year. Of the 500-billion, 1/5 are used in the United States alone.Plastic bags are difficult and very costly to recycle. For that reason, many end up in landfills where they take more than 300 years on average to photo-degrade.

The bags break down into tiny toxic particles that can easily contaminate the soil and waterways. Once an animal ingests these dangerous toxins, they’re forever integrated into the food chain, damaging animals of all sorts and even eliminating some species before they rise to dominance. These toxins are also very dangerous to humans when ingested in large amounts. All it would take is a few glasses of water per day for a few months for an individual to experience health problems from the poison.

(more…)