Consumption rate is over 500,000,000,000 plastic bags annually. They are here on our planet for up to 1,000 years. Estimated that 12 million barrels of oil is required to make the 100 Billion plastic bags the United States uses every year. Over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal die every year when they mistake them for food. The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store. The answer to the "paper or plastic?" is Neither! It takes more than four times the energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. Please use the reusable bags, this will help eliminate the unnecessary plastic and paper bags that are destroying our planet.