Plastic Fast Facts: Did you know?
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Plastic was invented by Alexander Parkes in 1860. Australians use 3.9 billion plastic shopping bags a year – this is about 10 million a day! Source: Planet Ark statistics, 2007 Plastic bags are produced from polymers that come from petroleum. The amount of petroleum used to make a plastic bag can drive a car about 11 metres. (Based on Australia’s daily usage of plastic bags, this equates to enough petrol to drive approx.110,000 km/day!)
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In 2010 Australia produced 43.8 million tonnes of human-made waste! About 7,150 recyclable plastic bags are dumped into Australia’s landfills every minute or 429,000 every hour. Source: Clean Up Australia Nearly half a million plastic bags are collected on Clean Up Australia Day each year. It is estimated that over 13,000 pieces of plastic litter float on every square kilometre of ocean and this figure continues to grow. Source: Derraik, J.G.B. 2002: The pollution of the
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marine environment by plastic debris: a review. Marine Pollution Bulletin
Some whales can have so much plastic toxins in them that they only live until they are 30 years old when they should live until they are 80 years old! The toxin builds up in the animal slowly poisoning them.
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In recent years, many people have started to use reusable bags, such as the ‘green bags’ you can buy at most supermarkets. Because of these efforts, the number of plastic bags used in Australia has fallen from around 6 billion in 2002 to 3.9 billion in 2007. Some States and Territories have even introduced bans and taxes on plastic bags. However, there is still a lot more that can be done.
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