Environmental Impacts of Plastic Bags Based on US EPA 2012 numbers, roughly 13 billion HDPE single-use plastic bags were generated annually in California.[i] Using the CalRecycle 2009 recycling rate of 3%[ii], 390 million bags are recycled while 12.6 billion bags end up in the landfills (even after re-use) or are littered. A single-use HDPE plastic bag uses 50% more non-renewable energy, emits 40% more GHG emissions, has 40% greater impact on solid waste, and uses 30% more fr