Plastic Bag facts

While investigating facts about Plastic Bags and Plastic Bag Holder, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In 2008, the country of Rwanda banned plastic bags and, in early 2019, banned all single use plastics.

how plastic bags are made?

Hawaii became the first state in the nation to ban plastic bags in all counties.

What plastic bags are recyclable?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what plastic bags can you recycle. Here are 50 of the best facts about Plastic Bag Recycling and Plastic Bag Ban I managed to collect.

what plastic bags can be recycled?

In Rwanda plastic bags are illegal and carry with them a 100-$150 fine. In fact, at airport customs all plastic bags are confiscated which has resulted in Rwanda being one of the most litter free countries in Africa
A family went into hiding from Soviets in Siberia after WWI. And weren't found for over 40 years, unaware of WWII, the space race, or plastic bags
A cotton bag would need to reused every day for a year before it offset the environmental impact of one plastic bag. A canvas tote bag? 171 reuses to break even.
Indonesian entrepreneurs make plastic bag using cassava starch, vegetable oil, and organic resins. The resulting "100% bio-based" material was biodegradable and compostable, breaking down over a period of months on land or at sea, or instantly in hot water.
The "nut rage incident", where on a Korean Air flight the vice president of the airline struck the cabin crew chief with a tablet and ordered the plane to return to the gate after being being served nuts in a plastic bag instead of on a plate.
The amount of plastic bags used in Holland has reduced by more than 70% since in 2016 a new law banned all retailers and restaurants to give them for free.
Coca-Cola syrup is delivered to McDonald's in stainless steel tanks that ensure its freshness, creating what many believe is the best Coca-Cola available. All other restaurants receive the syrup in plastic bags.
After San Francisco's ban on plastic bags, death from foodborne illnesses increased by 46% in the city.
If you tie a plastic bag around leaves on a tree you'll get enough drinkable water to keep you from dehydration
After several overburdened hospitals turned away a 22yo woman's 4 Ebola-stricken family members, the Liberian woman fashioned protective equipment out of plastic garbage bags and treated them herself for 2 weeks. Three of the Four family members survived.

plastic bag facts — What plastic bags are made of?

Why plastic bags should not be banned?

You can easily fact check why plastic bags are bad by examining the linked well-known sources.

National Geographic started delivering its magazines in a paper rather than plastic wrapper, saving more than 2.5 million single-use plastic bags every month. They also challenged all their international partners to get rid of plastic wrappers by end of 2019

In 2014 a Korean Air flight had to return to the gate because the vice chairman was served nuts in a plastic bag as opposed to served on a plate. She struck the cabin crew chief with a tablet on his knuckles repeatedly and then fired him immediately in what's known as The Nut Rage Incident. - source

In 2014, a 23 year old female accidentally killed herself by absorbing methamphetamine via her vagina - the autopsy found a meth-filled plastic bag inside of her, and the concentration in her blood was 2.4 times the greatest concentration ever found in a human - source

Hemp fiber bags (a cannabis variant) is a cheap, clean, strong, light and time-tested material that can replace plastic bags.

Writer Alan Ball was inspired to write a story about the hardship of living an authentic, happy life in the age of superficiality after he watched a plastic bag blowing in the wind outside the World Trade Center for 10 minutes. That story was American Beauty and he won an Oscar in 2000. - source

When plastic bags invented?

Bill Nye owns several patents, including one for ballet shoes and another for a clear plastic bag filled with water

How plastic bags are recycled?

A UK environmental agency found that reusing plastic shopping bags as garbage bags is more beneficial than recycling them

Emma Gatewood, who in 1955 at the age of 67, told her children (now adults) that she was going for a walk, and became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. She wore Keds sneakers and only carried an army blanket, a raincoat and a plastic shower curtain in a homemade denim bag.

If caught with a Plastic bag in Kenya you could be fined $40000/imprisoned for 4 years

Paper bags haven't been proven to be "greener" than plastic bags. Paper causes more harm to produce, plastic more harm after produced.

In 2008 Rwanda instituted a national ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags. Business owners caught breaking this law could face up to a year in prison.

When plastic bag was invented?

There's a lot of plastic trash in the ocean. We dumped about five shopping bags full of plastic for every foot of coastline in the world in 2010 alone.

Cotton grocery bags would need to be used 7,100 times to match the environmental impact of a plastic bag that is used only once

The environmental cost of a reusable canvas bag is equivalent to 400 plastic bags. Unless you reuse it at least 400 times, you'd be better off sticking with plastic.

Cotton bags must be reused thousands of times before they meet the environmental performance of plastic bags

Cotton reusable bags as well as most other reusable bags create a far greater carbon footprint than plastic bags

How plastic bags are harmful?

Cotton shopping bags need to be used 7100 to 20,000 times for their environmental impact to be the same as a plastic bag

Chewing gum is made from synthetic plastics like polyvinyl acetate (PVAc, also known as wood glue) & polyethylene (PE, the main ingredient in plastic bags), & gum chewers will create 1 million tons of unregulated plastic waste over the next 5 years.

About Emma Rowena Gatewood, aka Grandma Gatewood, the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail. She did it in 1955 at the age of 67, wearing Keds sneakers and carrying an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain, which she carried in a homemade bag slung over one shoulder.

In Zurich, the garbage disposal is financed by selling official plastic bags for non-recyclable waste. Garbage trucks will not even pick up unofficial bags from houses and they instead have to be placed in designated neighbourhood containers.

In 1984 someone in Singapore was murdered, chopped up, cooked in curry and rice, packed in plastic bags and thrown into roadside rubbish bins.

Africa leads the world in plastic bag regulations, with 34 countries adopting taxes or bans. Kenya’s penalties are the world’s most punitive, facing up to $38,000 in fines or four years in prison.

Sea turtles will grab and eat plastic bag from the water because it looks like a jellyfish. This could kill sea turtle.

Straight plastic bag bans implemented in Chicago and Hawaii resulted in many stores just upping the thickness of their plastic bags to 2.25 mils to cross the threshold that separates “single-use” plastic from “reusable” plastic bags under many bag laws.

To reduce the estimated 300 plastic bags an adult uses each year, some countries have completely banned their use. Ireland, Austria, Bangladesh, China, Australia, and many in Europe have put this plastic bag ban in place.

More than one million sea creatures are killed each year because of the plastic bags that are thrown into the ocean.

Ontario, Canada banned milk in plastic jugs until 2014. Milk was only sold in bags or cardboard containers.

All petroleum based clothes fibres are bad the environment, but polyester is the worst. Micro fibres are worse for the ocean eco-systems than the plastic bottles and bags, etc.

Bill Nye holds the patent for a new and improved ballet slipper, and for an educational magnifying glass created by filling a clear plastic bag with water.

Cats may enjoy licking some plastics (especially plastic bags) because they contain chemicals which mimic cat pheromones.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Plastic Bag. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Plastic Bag so important!