While we were waiting in line for the CN Tower climb, there were volunteers asking trivia questions (the prize was pear chips). One of the questions was about how many plastic bags were used in the world per year, and the answer is 500 billion to 1 trillion bags! Plus, each bag is only used for an average of 12 minutes.

That 1 trillion bag number, is huge. I can’t even comprehend that number. I understand 12 minutes though, but I don’t understand how someone can only use a bag to bring their purchases home.

I’ve been brought up to save plastic bags and reuse them. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had bags of bags from buying groceries. My parents still have a couple of boxes of bags from really old stores like Simpsons, and Woolco! I have a bag of bags in the car for cheap groceries, and when those are dead, I use them as garbage bags.

I always re-use my bags at least once, and potentially many more times, probably at least a couple of hours worth. So there must be some people in this world who only use their bags for 1 or 2 minutes! Can you believe that?

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: environment, growingup