Plastic facts - The problem with plastic bags

• A person uses a plastic carrier bag on average for only 12 minutes.

• A plastic bag can take between 500 to 1000 years to break down in the environment.

• In the UK at least 200 million plastic bags end up as litter on our beaches, streets and parks ever year.

• When a plastic bag enters the ocean it becomes a harmful piece of litter. Many marine animals mistake plastic bags for food and swallow them, with painful and often fatal consequences.

• Remember when changing from a plastic bag to an alternative, make sure the alternative does less harm to the environment than a plastic bag would. This is from the bags creation to its disposal. Otherwise it begs the question, what is the point in changing over?

• The world uses more than 1.2 trillion plastic bags a year - an average of about 300 bags for every adult, or 1m bags used per minute.

• On average, we use each plastic bag for 12 minutes before discarding it. It then can last in the environment for decades.

• 47% of windborne litter escaping from landfills is plastic - much of it plastic bags.

• About 80% of all marine rubbish comes from off the land, and nearly 90% is plastic. In June 2006 the UN environment programme estimated that there were an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic debris floating on or near the surface of every square mile of ocean.

• Plastic bag litter is lethal in the marine environment, killing at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles every year. After an animal is killed by plastic bags, its body decomposes and the plastic is released back into the environment, where it can kill again.

• A report, Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans, by Greenpeace, suggests that at least 267 marine species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of marine debris. An estimated 1 million seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic nets or other debris every year.

• Countries and cities that have banned or discouraged the use of plastic bags include: Australia, Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy, Taiwan, Mumbai, Scotland, France, West Bengal, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Switzerland, Rwanda, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, California, Somalia, Botswana, Philippines.

• Plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photodegrade - break down into smaller and smaller bits, contaminating soil, waterways and oceans, and entering the food chain when ingested by animals.