• A million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide.
• In America alone, 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees go into producing paper and plastic bags every year.
• Plastic bags are not biodegradable. They clog waterways, spoil the landscape, and end up in landfills where they may take 1,000 years or more to break down into ever smaller particles that continue to pollute the soil and water.
• Plastic bags also pose a serious danger to birds and marine mammals that often mistake them for food. Thousands die each year after swallowing or choking on discarded plastic bags.
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• According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. Of those, approximately 100 billion are plastic shopping bags, which cost retailers about $4 billion annually.
• 50 Reasons to stop using plastic bags.
• Toronto retailers will charge 5 cents per every plastic bag.
• Ireland introduced a "plastax" of about 30 cents on each plastic bag.

What many retailers will do is offer a 5 cent per bag discount for customers who use their own reusable bags vs the plastic bags offered by the retailer. Since these plastic bags average 5 cents each, the store promotes the sale of their reusable bags and saves the cost of buying more plastic bags. It shows the retailers "Green Awareness" and promotes customer loyalty and cross advertisement with their logo printed on the bags. It is surely a win-win proposition. Let BBC help you with marketing your customized reusable bags!

• Australia talks about getting rid of plastic bags.
• Nations Around the World Consider Ban.
• Plastic Bags Join Endangered List.
• China Sacks Plastic Bags.
• Delhi to Ban Plastic Bags.
• L.A. Plastic Bag Ban. 2010 Deadline.
• S.F. First City To Ban Plastic Shopping Bags.
• New York May Join Crackdown On Plastic Bags.
• Plastic bags may be banned in Boston.

• Little Change...Big Difference.
• The Sad Life of a Plastic Bag.
• China Goes Green.
• Uganda Bans Plastic Bags.
• 500 Billion Plastic Bags.
• San Francisco Bans Plastic Bags.