With so much media attention given to one-use plastic bags and their negative effect on the environment, shoppers often assume that paper bags are a better, more sustainable choice for carrying their groceries.
However, with a bit of research it soon becomes clear that the argument is by no means as simple as paper or plastic.
For the number of ‘one use’ bags used in the USA each year it takes:
Paper -
14 million trees to make the paper bags
The production of paper bags creates 70 percent more air pollution than plastic
Plastic -
2 million barrels of oil are used to make the plastic bags
plastic bags create four times the solid waste.
* read here for more facts on plastic and paper bags
What you do with single-use bags when you are done with them and where you live, are important factors when making the choice between paper or plastic, says Jenny Powers of the Natural Resources Defense Council For example, if you live near the coast or on waterways, paper may be a more suitable choice as plastic bags clog up waterways and are damaging to marine wildlife (remember whitey the crocodile?)
(plastic bags smother coral polyps)
While paper may break down more quickly than plastic, there are still many less than desirable consequences of the paper bag. The only real solution for the environment is reusable bags!
Thank you very much for sharing this great article. I am happy to read this post and come to know about the use of Plastic bags or paper. And I am agree with your view that Plastic bag pollution is very deadly and we should try to use paper bags it will be really helpful for environment protection.
chloe Says:
April 13th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Thankyou for your comment, I’m glad you like the article.
What we are really trying to say in it is that neither paper nor plastic one-use bags are desirable as both has a number of negative effects on the environment. Really the only way of protecting our environment is to switch to reusable bags.
Summer Camps Orange County Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Okay, I just order my first set of bags. My excuse so far has been that the only bags I’ve seen have been those with the logo of the grocery store on them. I certainly don’t want to walk into a store with bags bearing the name of their competitor.
But now that I’ve found bags that don’t have a grocery store logo, I’m committing right now to using reusable grocery bags starting the minute they arrive.
Switching to Reusable Grocery Bags | Going Green … Gradually Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
[...] my own brand-new reusable bags at the grocery store. It all started when I ran across a post on Envirosax. The author challenged me to forgo plastic and commit to using reusable bags. She even offered [...]
Kathy Tang Says:
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am
I think it’s pretty clear that reusable bags are better than the highly disposable choices given away at stores, however I think of one use bags as trash bags or bags for picking up dog poop. I would be interested to find out if there exist more environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic bags in these cases where reusable bags seem less possible.
Hillary Says:
July 11th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
We use paper bags, the reasoning is so we dont use plastic trash bags. I think we should now turn to using something else for trash. We use all our paper bags as trash bags and we do have reusable bags and i always tell the baggers to NOT put anything in a plastic bag.
katy Says:
July 15th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Dear Hillary,
Thank you for your comment.
It is great you are getting behind the mis-use of plastic bags.
However, remember the use of paper bags just uses more trees so it
is important to use reusable bags where ever possible.
Kind regards,
Envirosax
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April 9th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Thank you very much for sharing this great article. I am happy to read this post and come to know about the use of Plastic bags or paper. And I am agree with your view that Plastic bag pollution is very deadly and we should try to use paper bags it will be really helpful for environment protection.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Thankyou for your comment, I’m glad you like the article.
What we are really trying to say in it is that neither paper nor plastic one-use bags are desirable as both has a number of negative effects on the environment. Really the only way of protecting our environment is to switch to reusable bags.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Okay, I just order my first set of bags. My excuse so far has been that the only bags I’ve seen have been those with the logo of the grocery store on them. I certainly don’t want to walk into a store with bags bearing the name of their competitor.
But now that I’ve found bags that don’t have a grocery store logo, I’m committing right now to using reusable grocery bags starting the minute they arrive.
Orange County Summer Camps
April 29th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
[...] my own brand-new reusable bags at the grocery store. It all started when I ran across a post on Envirosax. The author challenged me to forgo plastic and commit to using reusable bags. She even offered [...]
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am
I think it’s pretty clear that reusable bags are better than the highly disposable choices given away at stores, however I think of one use bags as trash bags or bags for picking up dog poop. I would be interested to find out if there exist more environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic bags in these cases where reusable bags seem less possible.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
We use paper bags, the reasoning is so we dont use plastic trash bags. I think we should now turn to using something else for trash. We use all our paper bags as trash bags and we do have reusable bags and i always tell the baggers to NOT put anything in a plastic bag.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Dear Hillary,
Thank you for your comment.
It is great you are getting behind the mis-use of plastic bags.
However, remember the use of paper bags just uses more trees so it
is important to use reusable bags where ever possible.
Kind regards,
Envirosax