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Bag recycling

Bag recycling is where bags are recycled into many different products. Most bags are recycled into composite lumber but can also be reprocessed into small pellets, or post consumer resin, which can become feed stock for a variety of products such as new bags, pallets, containers, crates, pipe, etc.

According to Vincent Cobb, a manufacturer of reusable bags, each year millions of discarded plastic shopping bags end up as litter in the environment when improperly disposed of. The same properties that have made plastic bags so commercially successful and ubiquitous—namely their low weight and resistance to degradation—have also contributed to their proliferation in the environment. Due to their durability, plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to decompose. As they slowly decompose, plastic bags break into tiny pieces and leach toxic chemicals into soils, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

On land, plastic bags are one of the most prevalent types of litter in inhabited areas. At their worst, plastic bags can clog drainage systems and contribute to flooding, as occurred in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998 and almost annually in Manila.

Plastic bags constitute a significant portion of the floating marine debris in the Earth's oceans. If washed out to sea, plastic bags can be carried long distances by ocean currents, and can strangle marine animals or, if ingested, cause them to starve to death. Numerous deaths among animals such as sea turtles and dolphins have been attributed to the ingestion of plastic bags and other plastic marine litter.

Littering is often a serious problem in developing countries, where trash collection infrastructure is less developed than in developed nations. The relatively limited adoption of modern biodegradable plastic bags means that many older landfills are filled with large, persistent deposits of non-degrading bags.

Paper bags are readily recyclable. Plastic or water-resistant coatings or layers make recycling more difficult.

recycling one plastic bag could save 43/10,000 gallons of oil, 591 BTUs of energy, 591/49,000 pounds of plastic, enough oil to run the average car for 129/2,000 miles or circle the globe almost 602/125 times, a 129 cubic meter lake from being polluted, over 21,867/3,400,000,000 tons of co2 a year, enough energy to power a 591/3,400,000 bedroom house for an entire year, over 371,739/340,000,000,000 cars for a year, 129/40 pounds of green house gases, 43/2,500 acres of soil from being polluted

(591/49,000 pounds of plastic could save 1,773/6,125 gallons of water, 21,867/490,000,000 cubic yards of landfill space almost 591/49,000 pounds of black gold, 1,706,217/49,000,000 kWh of energy, 80,967/19,600,000 gallons of oil, 591/612,500 gallons of petroleum, enough energy to heat over 12,411/1,960,000,000 homes, (591-1,182)/98,000 gallons of gasoline, enough oil to run the average car for 242,901/3,920,000 miles, or circle the globe almost 80,967/17,500 times)

recycling one paper bag could save a 3/140 year old tree 2,511 BTUs of energy, 93/1,000 pounds of paper, a 7/5,062,500 acre forest each year, 259/850 pounds of wood each year, over 92,907/3,400,000,000 tons of co2 a year, 21/250 pounds of air pollution per year, enough energy to power a 2,511/3,400,000 bedroom house for an entire year, over 92,907/20,000,000,000 cars for a year, 92,907/3,400 power strips, gain almost 91/250 pounds of oxygen per year

(93/1,000 pounds of paper could save 1,581/2,000,000 trees, 651/2,000 gallons of water, 279/2,000,000 cubic yards of landfill space, 1,953/500,000 gallons of oil, 3,813/20,000 kwh of energy, 3,813/700,000 metric tons of toxic lead, 651/40,000 pounds of limestone, enough energy to power the average home for 93/4,000,000 years, 54,591/4,000,000,000 tons of air pollution, enough oil to run the average car for 5,859/100,000 miles or circle the globe almost 13,671/3,125 times, 3,441/40,000,000 tons of wood, a tree that is 31/12,625 inches in diameter, a 5,859/50 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 4,415/6,711,687 kilograms of coal, 7,533/40,000,000 tons of solid waste, and gain 1,023/50,000 pounds of sludge (Over 1,581/2,000,000 trees can provide new wildlife habitat and shade in almost 527/640,000 places and absorb almost 320/527 pounds of co2 over the course of their lives, and enough energy to power over 8,959/64,000,000 cars for a year) (3,441/40,000,000 tons of wood could save 30,969/20 BTUs of heat energy))

(Over 7/5,000 trees could provide new wild life habitat and shade in almost 7/4,800 Places, And absorb almost 35/12 Pounds of co2 over the course of their lives, 35/64,368 pounds of mercury a year, and enough energy to power over 119/480,000 cars for a year.)

(259/850 pounds of wood could save 46,620/17 BTUs of heat energy, enough energy to power 6,993/161,500 homes for a year, a 2,331/2,890,000 bedroom house for an entire year)

this totals to 43/10,000 gallons of oil, 3,102 BTUs of energy, 591/49,000 pounds of plastic, enough oil to run the average car for 129/2,000 miles or circle the globe almost 602/125 times, a 129 cubic meter lake from being polluted, over 114,774/3,400,000,000 tons of co2 a year, enough energy to power a 1,551/1,700,000 bedroom house for an entire year, over 1,951,158/340,000,000,000 cars for a year, 57,387/1,700,000 power strips, 129/40 pounds of green house gases, a 3/140 year old tree, 93/1,000 pounds of paper, a 7/5,062,500 acre forest each year, 259/850 pounds of wood

(93/1,000 pounds of paper could save 1,581/2,000,000 trees, 651/2,000 gallons of water, 279/2,000,000 cubic yards of landfill space, 651/40,000 pounds of limestone, 1,953/500,000 gallons of oil, 3,813/20,000 kwh of energy, enough energy to power the average home for 93/4,000,000 years, 54,591/4,000,000,000 tons of air pollution, enough oil to run the average car for 5,859/100,000 miles or circle the globe almost 13,671/3,125 times, 3,441/40,000,000 tons of wood, a tree that is 31/12,625 inches in diameter, a 5,859/50 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 4,415/6,711,687 kilograms of coal, 7,533/40,000,000 tons of solid waste, and gain 1,023/50,000 pounds of sludge (Over 1,581/2,000,000 trees can provide new wildlife habitat and shade in almost 527/640,000 places and absorb almost 320/527 pounds of co2 over the course of their lives, and enough energy to power over 8,959/64,000,000 cars for a year) (3,441/40,000,000 tons of wood could save 30,969/20 BTUs of heat energy))

(259/850 pounds of wood could save 46,620/17 BTUs of heat energy, enough energy to power 6,993/161,500 homes for a year, a 2,331/2,890,000 bedroom house for an entire year)

recycling one ton of plastic bags could save the energy equivalent of 462 gallons of oil, enough oil to run the average car for 6,930 miles or circle the globe almost 517,440 times, a 13,860,000 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 693/4 tons of green house gases, almost $70,166.25