PLASTICS - FOOD FACTS & TRIVIA
About 7% to 10% of the petroleum used in the U.S. each year is used to make plastics and fibers.
Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. Fewer than 3% of them are recycled.
About 37% of plastic soda bottles and 28% of plastic milk & water containers are recycled in the U.S. each year. (2009)
Every year in the U.S. about 63 pounds of plastic packaging per person end up in landfills. Plastic accounts for more than 15% of municipal solid waste and 1/2 to 3/4 of the waste found littering the ocean, seabeds and beaches. (2009)
In 1997, a 65 foot, 70 ton finback whale died off the coast of Spain because its digestive tract had been blocked by 30 plastic bags, and several hard plastic objects.
In a CDC study in 2007, BPA, a chemical used to make some plastics, was found in the urine of 93% of individuals 6 years and older. There is concern that BPA (bisphenol) exposure may lead to developmental changes in infants and children.
It takes 450 years for a plastic bottle in the ocean to completed degrade.
Processed fibers from chicken feathes can be used to make a polymer film that is made into thin sheets of plastic similar to cellophane.
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