Did you know... ?

• Australians use over 10 million plastic bags a day.
• Almost half of these bags are given away by non-supermarket retailers such as newsagents, discount stores, pharmacies, fruit and vegetable shops, liquor stores and take-away outlets.
• Plastic bags suffocate, disable and kill thousands of marine mammals and sea birds worldwide each year. When the animal dies and decays, the plastic bag is free again to repeat the deadly cycle.
• It only takes 4 grocery trips for an average Australian family to accumulate 60 plastic shopping bags.
• Australians throw away about 7,150 recyclable plastic bags a minute, with 429,000 recyclable plastic supermarket bags dumped in landfill every hour.
• Plastic made up four of the top ten items found on Clean Up Australia Day 2006, this included plastic supermarket bags. Plastic accounted for 33% of all rubbish found. Of this plastic rubbish, plastic bags accounted for 7.6%
• Up to 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles die each year as a result of plastic debris.
• Turtle's are one of the oldest animals on out planet, with traces going back to the time of the dinosours.

Tips For shopping:

Use reusable alternatives such as cloth,
baskets, boxes, or “green” bags
Use reusable containers for storing and
transporting food
Carry smaller items in your hands or a
shoulder bag
Reuse bags for subsequent shopping trips
Use one bag to carry your items from
different stores
Reuse bags for storage of food or clothing
Dispose of any plastic bags thoughtfully so
that they do not end up at litter