Life and times of the plastic bag

A novelty in the 70s, plastic bags are now omnipresent, produced at a rate of one trillion a year. Bur they are choking polar ice caps, oceans, even Mount Everest, damaging the environment

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? 1933

Polyethylene, the most common plastic, is created by accident at a chemical plant in England. It is initially used in secret by the British military forces during

World War II.

1965

The one-piece polyethylene shopping bag is patented by the Swedish company Celloplast. It quickly begins to replace cloth and plastic in Europe.

1979

Already controlling 80% of the bag market in Europe, plastic bags are introduced to US. Plastic companies begin to aggressively market their product as superior to paper and reusable bags.

1982

Safeway and Kroger, two of the biggest supermarket chains in the United States, switch to plastic bags. More stores follow suit and by the end of the decade plastic bags will have almost replaced paper around the world.

1997

Sailor and researcher Charles Moore discovers the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest of several gyres in the world’s oceans where immense amounts of plastic waste have accumulated, threatening marine life.

2002

Bangladesh is the first country in the world to implement a ban on thin plastic bags, after it was found they played a key role in clogging drainage systems during disastrous flooding. Other countries begin to follow suit.

2011

Worldwide one million plastic bags are consumed every minute.

2017

Kenya bans plastic bags, making it one the most recent of the more than two dozen countries that have sought to reduceplastic bag use through fees or bans.

2018

#BeatPlasticPollution is the theme of World Environment Day, hosted this year by India. Companies and governments continue to announce new pledges to tackle plastic waste.