It is estimated that worldwide, 1 trillion bags are used and discarded every year. Every day Australian's use over 10 million new plastic bags, or 3.92 billion bags a year. Most of these bags are disposed of in landfill sites throughout Australia - around 20,700 tonnes every year!
It is estimated that around 50 million bags enter the Australian litter stream every year. Unless they are collected and disposed of, they remain in the environment, harming wildlife and accumulating at a staggering rate. If these plastic bags were made into a single plastic sheet, it would be big enough to cover the Melbourne CBD.
Source: http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/LivingGreener/plastic-bag-facts.html
