However, we just became lazy. Instead of using and re-using the same bag over and over again, we got used to getting rid of them. Last year, National Geographic has reported that somewhere around 40 percent of plastic produced is packaging – which is used just once and then discarded. The son of the inventor of plastic bags told the media: “To my dad, the idea that people would simply throw these away would be bizarre. He always carried [a plastic bag] in his pocket folded up. You know what we’re all being encouraged to do today, which is to take your bags back to the shop, he was doing back in the ’70s and ’80s, just naturally, because, well, why wouldn’t you?”