Surfrider Foundation - CT Chapter
Rise Above Plastic Connecticut! Quick Facts
Quick facts on disposable bags:
- The average single-use shopping bag is used for 12 minutes yet it remains in the environment for 1,000 years.
- Each year Americans throw away 100 billion polyethylene bags, while only 0.6 percent are recycled.
- 67% of plastic bags are imported from Southeast Asia.
- Not only are single-use bags unsightly litter, but they clog sewers and stormdrains, increasing pollution and costing public agencies tens of millions of dollars annually collectively on litter prevention, cleanup, and enforcement activities.
- While single-use bags are recyclable, less than 5% actually get recycled despite aggressive efforts to educate the public and implement recycling programs. The quantity of plastic marine debris is rising and WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO RECYCLE OUR WAY OUT OF THIS PROBLEM. Many areas in the country are not yet ready for a ban, but the Town of Westport’s major grocery stores already recycle single-use bags and merchants don’t use plastic bags at all. Westport is the first plastic bag free town on the East Coast!
- There is a section of the Pacific Ocean twice the size of the continental United States called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Within it, 100 million tons of plastic swirl in a vortex of currents. There is so much plastic in the water that it outnumbers zooplankton by six to one!
- This plastic ends up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. In fact, one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die globally each year due to ingestion of or entanglement in plastics.
- Plastic is forever, with virtually every piece of petroleum based plastic ever made still in existence. That's why it's so critical to our oceans and beaches that we dramatically reduce our use of plastics, especially single-use plastics, starting today.
- You can make a difference for our world's oceans, waves and beaches - pledge to rise above plastics today!