Sometimes the smallest things can be a BIG deal. Besides picking a place for dinner, hair ties are definitely one of those things that is a big deal.
For starters, the majority of the hair ties available today are made out of plastic! On average, plastic takes about 400 years to break down.
To top it off, 4-8% of annual global oil consumption is associated with plastics, according to the World Economic Forum.
With unbeatable prices, and an endless supply, it's a no brainer for most companies to flock to plastic.
So how many hair ties are Lost and Tossed every year in the USA?
According to a piece written by KooShoo
"There are 330 million people in America and 167.5 million of them are women. Let's say that conservatively, half of those women - plus all others with long hair - amount to approximately 84 million hair tie users.
The number is probably higher but we're going to err on the side of conservative with these calculations.
Now, thanks to the aforementioned race to the bottom in which hair tie companies have added more and more hair ties to a pack at cheaper and cheaper prices it's possible in America to buy 100 hair ties on a pack for $3.99, or less. Some people will buy 2, 3, 4, 10 of those packs a year; others may not buy any. But at the end of the day, let's average it out to 65 hair ties purchased per year by each of those 84 million hair tie wearers. That number may not reflect your purchasing habits but it's an average that includes all those super-users.
And we all know that what comes in, must eventually go out - whether by being lost, tossed, or "borrowed". In other words, 84 million hair tie wearers are conservatively moving through 65 hair ties a year, or a cumulative total of 5.46 billion hair ties per year. Put another way, that's just shy of 15 million (14,985,904 to be exact) hair ties per day that are being lost, tossed, or disappeared.
So yes, those little plastic hair loops that disappear might seem like no-biggie on an individual basis but combined, 15 million (likely more) of those plastic hair ties are being lost or tossed EVERY DAY in the USA alone.
With an average weight of 0.75g (0.02oz) per hair tie, 15 million plastic hair ties a day is the equivalent to 11,250kg (~ 25,000 pounds) of plastic waste daily just from hair ties."
What can we do about it?
We'd like to recommend cutting off all your hair so you don't need hair ties! Unfortunately a large portion of our customers just didn't think it was too practical, so instead, we've put together a simple little product that can make a HUGE difference. The Pony Rider.
With the average hair tie consumer misplacing about 65 hair ties a year, we hope we can reduce that number to a one that you can count on two hands! The pony rider can saddle up to ten of your standard hair ties comfortably cozied on your keys, bathroom towel rack, or rearview mirror.
If we can reduce the amount of hair ties that get lost by just half, we would reduce about 4.5 Million pounds of plastic trash every year, in the U.S. alone!