One Step to Help Conserve Oil and Save the Environment

Most of us know that when we reach for a shampoo bottle, a pill bottle, even a baby food container it is made of plastic. We go to the grocery store and given a choice, if we are at all anymore, between paper and plastic, most pick plastic. Plastic is everywhere, but how many of us really think about what it takes to make all these bottles, bags and all the plastic we use on a daily basis.

You probably wonder, what can we do? One of the easiest things we can do to help cut down on plastic consumption and help the environment is start using re-usable shopping bags. Almost every store now sells these for $1 or less, some stores have promotions and give them away for free. The EPA estimates 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, less than 1% end up recycled. Environmentally plastic bags make a huge impact, they are not biodegradable, they break down into smaller pieces contaminating water supplies, getting into the food of animals and contaminating soil. Not only are plastic bags bad for the environment when not recycled, but what a lot of us do not realize is that 4% of the worlds oil production goes into making plastic.

Even if you want to do the right thing and recycle plastic bags, many never do get recycled. It costs $4,000 to recycle one ton of plastic bags, it is then turned around and sold for only $32. In todays society, where the bottom line is the most important, if money can not be made then companies, even a company whose sole purpose is to recycle, does not want to bother. Plastic bags are now being sold to third world countries where the environmental laws are much more lenient, if they exist at all, and the bags are incinerated, further damaging the environment.

Several countries have began an effort to reduce the amount of plastic bags used, China recently banned use of all plastic bags and will save 37 million, yes million, barrels of oil a year. Approximately 42 gallons of gas are in one barrel, so, without even taking out a calculator, that is a lot of gas being wasted that does not need to be. Ireland created a Plastax, a tax on plastics, the first year alone they raised 9.6 million dollars to turn over into green programs. There is now a 90% drop in consumption of plastic bags and 1 billion less plastic bags being used annually.

For me personally, when I do the math, I grocery shop for a family of 4 once a week. I use anywhere from 5 to 10 plastic bags a trip. Even if I only use 5 (and this does not count the bags from the pharmacy, the take out and all the other stores I go to) that is 20 bags a month, minimum. 240 bags a year. It does not sound like a big deal, right? Well, if each of us where to start using re-usable shopping bags and each of us cut back on 240 less plastic bags a year going into landfills annually, with a population of over 304 million people , can you imagine how many bags would NOT be going to landfills and even better, how much oil would be conserved.

If you are a crafty person, good at sewing or looking for even more ways to help the environment and recycle here is a great article with tips on how to make re-usable bags from your old linens, jeans and shirts.