Ten Reasons Why We Should All Use Reusable Bags

By David Kraft

Beginning to use reusable bags in place of disposable paper and plastic bags is one way that every single one of us can do our part to help our environment, cut back on waste, and reduce the consumption of natural resources and fossil fuels. While more common in other countries, the sad truth is that most consumers in the US still rely on paper or plastic bags for the majority of their shopping. Perhaps they need some more motivation? Below, I've compiled a list of ten reasons that everyone should begin using reusable shopping bags.

If you do some research, you'll find a range of estimates about the number of plastic bags that are used each year throughout the world. Generally, the bottom of the range is around 500 billion with the upper boundary of the range being around 1 trillion. Roughly 380 billion plastic bags are consumed in the US each year. That's a lot of bags - unfortunately a lot of bags that aren't reused or recycled. Instead, most are thrown away in the garbage and work their way in to our waste system and landfills or find their way in to our waterways or countryside.

10 Reason to Use Reusable Bags instead of Paper or Plastic

1) Plastic bags take over 1,000 years to decompose in landfills

2) Plastic bags do not biodegrade in landfills. Instead, they photodegrade, which can release toxins into the soil and waterways nearby that can be ingested by animals, leading to death

3) Approximately 1% of plastic bags are recycled due to high costs. That leaves 99% to make their way to landfills or end up as litter

4) Each square mile of the ocean has an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic in it...and this number continues to grow.

5) Each year, the US uses over 12 million barrels worth of oil in the form of plastic bags

6) The 10 billion paper bags that US consumers use each year require the harvest of 14 million trees

7) The pulp and paper industry consumes the 2nd most amount of energy when compared to all major US industries

8) Along coastal US shores, 10% of all waste and garbage is plastic bags

9) Over 100,000 sea turtles and over 1 million birds die each year after ingesting plastic bags that they find in oceans, waterways, and countrysides. These bags are mistaken for food and generally get lodged in the animal's intestine where they prevent the animal from digesting other food, causing a slow and painful death.

10) Each reusable bag that you use could potentially reduce your use of plastic bags by 1,000 bags over the lifetime of the bag.

Using reusable shopping bags cuts down on the number of plastic bags that are used, disposed of, and available to kill animals, pollute the land, and/or harm our soil and water.

If you have never considered replacing your plastic bag use with reusable bags, now is the time. Reusable bags do not require you to dramatically change your lifestyle and most people that make the switch actually find them more convenient as they can carry more things in a much easier manner. Although the lifestyle change required is not drastic, the combined efforts of us all beginning to use reusable bags can be.