Single-use bags cost:

 

CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO  spends 17 cents per bag for disposal

 

Paper or plastic-they are costing our cities millions!

 

Before San Francisco implemented its plastic bag reduction ordinance, a 2004 cost analysis commissioned by the city showed that $8.5 million was spent annually to deal with plastic bag litter.

 

Here's how the city San Francisco estimates the cost of 17 cents per bag.

 

San Francisco supermarkets hand out 50 million bags per year, 90% plastic and 10% paper.

 

Contamination of recycling stream: $1.09 million, or 2.2 cents per bag.

 

Collecting and disposing of bags: $3.6 million, or 7.2 cents per bag.

 

Removing bags from streets: $2.6 million, or 5.2 cents per bag.

 

Processing in landfills: $1.2 million a year, or 2.4 cents per bag.

 

 

Total cost per bag: 17 cents.

 

1. City of San Francisco Department of the Environment “Bag Cost Analysis” (November 18, 2004).

2. Total cleanup costs based on City of San Francisco baseline estimate multiplied by total number of bags used in California from data provided California Integrated Waste Management Board. Population estimates for 2008 from U.S. Census Bureau’s Quick Facts.

 

The Problem:

 

You may not realize it, but each day, nearly every one of us brings a pest into our home. They are small, mostly pink, blue or white in color, adaptable to land and water, and have caused the deaths of countless wildlife around the world.

 

Plastic bags are a big problem.  They are barely recyclable and take at least 1,000 years to decompose, if that.  The incredibly slow rate of decay of plastic bags also means that each bag we use compounds the problem, because the bags simply accumulate.  Since the introduction of the single use plastic bags in the 1950’s, all those bags are still around today in smaller and smaller pieces.

 

Plastic shopping bags have a surprisingly significant environmental impact for something so seemingly harmless. As well as being an eyesore, littering the streets and waterways, plastic shopping bags contribute to global warming and depleting our oil resources.

 

Some Interesting Facts about polyethylene plastic bags:

• 12 Million barrels of oil are used to produce 30 billion plastic bags in the U.S. depleting oil supplies, and driving up costs of petroleum-based products like gasoline and energy for our homes, contributing to our dependence on foreign oil  [5]

• Plastic bag production creates greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming

• 500 Billion to 1 Trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide annually [1]

 

• 100 Billion plastic bags consumed in the United States alone [2]

• Throwing away 100 billion plastic bags is equivalent to dumping 12 million barrels of oil [3]

• The amount of oil it would take to make just 14 plastic bags would run your car for one mile.

• Bay Area residents use 3.5 Billion plastic bags every year.  Each year about 1 Million end up in the bay

• 9% of waste in landfills is plastic [4]

• 4.5% of waste in landfills is plastic bags and films *

• Only about 2% of plastic bags are recycled in the US, and only 1% worldwide [6]

• To clean up plastic bag litter, it costs 17 cents per bag in San Francisco [7]

• More than a million birds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die every year from eating or getting entangled in plastic [8]

• There are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean [9]

 

Fortunately, steps are being taken. Many cities, including Boston in the United States, and indeed many countries throughout the world are starting to take this issue seriously. It’s important that organic storekeepers show some leadership in this area.

So next time you go shopping, hold your head up proudly as you reuse or refuse a plastic bag.

[2] Mieszkowski, Katharine. “Plastic bags are Killing Us”, August 10, 2007.  Salon.com

[3] Mieszkowski, Katharine. “Plastic bags are Killing Us”, August 10, 2007.  Salon.com

[5] Goodyear, Charlie.  “S.F. First City to Ban Plastic Shopping Bags”, March 28, 2007.  San Francisco Chronicle.

[9] United Nations Environment Program