Plastic Bags are a true menace to our ecosystems and our waste diversion goals. Barely recyclable (current figures have stalled at 1-4%), almost all of the 600 bags used in the State per second are discarded. Once discarded, they either enter our landfills or our marine ecoystem.

People think of plastic bags as being free. Instead, they actually cost taxpayers millions every year. In San Francisco alone, City officials estimate that they spend $8.5 million annually to deal with plastic bag litter—that equates to roughly 17 cents for every bag distributed in the city. Additionally:

• It costs the state $25 million annually to landfill discarded plastic bags.
• Public agencies in California spend in excess of $303 annually in litter abatement.
• Southern California cities have spent in excess of $1.7 billion in meeting Total Maximum Daily Loads for trashed in impaired waterways.
• Cities and Recyclers spend incalculable amounts removing plastic bags from their recyclables stream, where the jam machinery and add to the manual labor costs of recycling.

Beyond the economic costs, plastic bags are a blight to our marine environment as well. We have all seen plastic bags in transit to our rivers and oceans—trapped in trees or in storm gutter drains—but it is less often that we see the full environmental affects of plastic bags.

At least 267 species have been scientifically documented to be adversely affected by plastic marine debris and it is estimated to kill over 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year. Plastic bags are considered especially dangerous to sea turtles, who mistake them for jellyfish, a main food source. Currently, 86% of all known species of sea turtles have had reported problems of entanglement or ingestion of marine debris.

Additionally, all plastic products that enter our marine environment eventually break down into small fragments, which in some areas of the ocean outweigh plankton by a factor of six and are inextricably altering the marine ecosystem.

Furthermore, platic bags are made from patroleum, an unrenewable and environmentally degrading resource. Indeed, an estimated 4,000 barrels of oil a day are used for the manufacture of a largely unnecessary product.

Learn More about Plastics Waste and its Solutions:

• Marine Debris
• Plastic Bag Legislative Solutions
• Plastic Litter and Waste Reduction Campaign