“If we in government truly want to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil, reduce the consumption of our natural resources, reduce landfill waste, reduce the amount of litter on our streets, and reduce the amount of damage done to our wildlife and environment, then New York State should kiss goodbye harmful check-out plastic grocery bags,†said Assemblyman Colton.
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle
He also pointed to the need to reduce the country’s oil consumption, since it takes about 430,000 gallons to produce 100 million plastic bags.
- NewsDay.com
By The Numbers…
- Typical Number of Bags used per week: 12
- 12 * 52 weeks = 624/year
- 624 bags * 8million NYC City Residents (as of 2000) = 4,997,165,472 – yes that’s almost 5 billion!
- 4,997,165,472 bags (divided by) 100 Million bags (amount that uses 430,000 gallons of oil to produce) = 50 per 100 Million bags (rounded)
- 50 * 430,000 = 21,500,000 gallons of oil used to give only New York City their supply of plastic bags
Disclaimer:
As pointed out to me by one of my brothers, the gallons of oil, itself, is used for many multiple purposes – thus the oil has parts of it that are used for multiple different manufacturing purposes.
Commentary…
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