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Cartoon: Single-use plastic bags → Reusable bag Used for 12 minutes,around for 500 years.

Instead of

Single-use plastic bags Reusable bag

Why switch

Healthier

Plastic bags shed microplastics as they break down — fragments that end up in soil, water and food.

Greener

About 5 trillion are used a year; they take centuries to break down and choke rivers and wildlife.

The impact

You, per year 150 plastic bags
All of the world 1.22 trillion plastic bags skipped / year

If everyone across the world switched, every year that’s:

  • 1.22 trillion plastic bags

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Reduce

Keep a foldable bag in your pocket or rucksack so you are never caught out.

Reuse

Use the same bag hundreds of times — that is what makes it greener than plastic.

Recycle

Worn-out soft plastics go to store carrier-bag drop-offs, not your kerbside bin.

Sources

  1. UN Environment Programme — single-use plastics roadmap (~5 trillion plastic bags used per year)
  2. UK Environment Agency (2011), Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags — how many reuses a reusable bag needs to come out ahead
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