How many plastic bags do americans use each year?

Question

multiple choice

380,000,000,000

770,000

10,000,000,

15,000

Answer 1

in Canada they say each Canadian uses 4 per day

Answer 2

The correct answer is 6.  After that we reuse our resources.

Answer 3

frflyer.... thank you, for the infor, truth,

Answer 4

I would guess it's the largest number, 380 billion

And much of it ends up in the sea, along with other plastic pollution.  It has become a huge problem.  An area in the north pacific ocean twice the size of the United states is filled with trillions of bits of plastic near the surface.  The wind and currents circle clockwise, sweeping all this junk toward the center,    

"Most plastic floats near the sea surface where some is mistaken for food by birds and fishes. Plastics are carried by currents and can circulate continually in the open sea. Broken, degraded plastic pieces outweigh surface zooplankton in the central North Pacific by a factor of 6-1. That means six pounds of plastic for every single pound of zooplankton."

"Storms flush plastics down stream and ultimately into the ocean. Plastic debris looks bad, but it behaves worse. Far worse! Plastic pollution negatively effects trillions upon trillions of ocean inhabitants and ultimately humans."

"Synthetic Sea" shows how many marine birds and fishes ingest plastic, because it mimics the food they eat. The program reveals scientific research, indicating how plastic pieces can attract and hold hydrophobic elements like PCB and DDT up to one million times background levels. As a result, floating plastic is like a poison pill. As a result, new research regarding endocrine disrupters in floating plastic debris is being planned by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.. "Synthetic Sea" is a documentary based on scientific findings backed by published scientific papers."

DR. Marcus Ericson

http://www.algalita.org/research.html#pl...

http://www.algalita.org/pelagic_plastic....

Tiny microorganisms at the bottom of the food chain, inadvertantly ingest tiny bits of plastic.

We use about 5-10% of our oil to make plastics now

We have a fledgling bioplastic industry, which can make plastics to replace over half the types of plastics we use.  These are biodegradable and compostable plastics.  More of this should be encouraged.  I believe it's a better use of plant matter than biofuel.  It's not necessary to use food crops, things like switchgrass can be used.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bi...

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Answer 5

380,000,000,000 (to my amazement.)!!