• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide, which is over one million plastic bags per minute.
• Plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photodegrade – breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways.
• Plastic bags enter the food web when animals accidentally ingest these bits of plastic. Mistaking plastic bags for food causes the death of over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animals every year.
• The production of plastic bags requires petroleum and often natural gas, both non-renewable resources that increase our dependency on foreign suppliers. Prospecting and drilling for these resources contributes to the destruction of fragile habitats and ecosystems around the world.
• According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in one year the U.S. alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring 14 million trees to be cut down. That amounts to 840,000,000 pounds of pollutants a year that the trees would have filtered from the air had they not been cut down.
• When retailers give away free bags, their costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
  Many grocery stores offer 2¢ to 5¢ rebates for bringing your own bag. Bring your own bag as a way to reduce your impact on the environment and to save money.

Thanks to reusablebags.com for the valuable information.