“Paper or plastic?” It’s an age-old question that has haunted people since the dawn of time, if not longer. Some people get paper bags for their strength. Others get plastic bags for the fun handles. But if you’re trying to lower your eco-footprint, then you are basing this decision on its environmental impact. Hopefully, this here will help you make your decision.
Consumption:
Paper Bags: American use over 10 billion paper bags each year. Around 14 million trees are chopped down each year for paper bag production.
Plastic Bags: If you thought 10 billion was a lot, how about this: around 100 billion plastic bags are used in America each year. That takes about 12 million barrels of oil annually, just for bags. Dang.
Production:
It takes close to 4 times as much energy to make a paper bag compared to a plastic bag. But, plastic bags are made from oil (non-renewable resource), while paper bags are made from trees (renewable resource).
Pollution:
Paper Bags: Toxic chemicals used in paper bag production (like bleach and acid) contribute to water pollution and air pollution (acid rain). Surprisingly, paper bag production generates 70 percent more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than plastic bags.
Plastic Bags: Plastic bag production requires hazardous chemicals also. According to an EPA ranking of chemicals that generate the most hazardous waste, 5 of the top 6 chemicals are used in plastics production. Plus, hundreds of thousands sea animals die each year from eating plastic bags, which clog their digestive tracts or choke them.
Recycling:
Paper Bags: Lots of chemicals have to be used to recycle paper bags. Once a bag is recycled, it’s more likely to be used to make cardboard than another paper bag.
Plastic Bags: A lower percentage of plastic bags than paper bags are recycled. Increasingly, plastic bags collected for recycling are instead sent to countries such as China and India, where they can be cheaply burned due to weak environmental laws. Good ol’ India and China.
Biodegradable:
Paper Bags: Paper bags do break down after a while, but not if they’re in a modern landfill. In that case, 95 percent of the garbage is buried under layers of soil, so air and sunlight can’t reach the bags to decompose them. So they just sort of sit there.
Plastic Bags: They don’t break down.
My Conclusion:
Use a reusable bag. Keep a cloth bag in your car, and just use that whenever you go shopping for something. When I worked at Fresh Market in Asheville, plenty of people came through with cloth bags. These bags can hold more than paper or plastic bags, they’re stronger, and you don’t end up getting a bunch of disposable bags that will clutter up your house. Plus, you can get bags with jawsome designs or slogans on the side, which makes you cooler than them people that are using plain ol’ plastic or paper bags, thus bolstering your poor self-esteem. And that is what really matters.
November 4th, 2007 at 1:24 am
[...] is what causes most people to choose reusable cloth bags over flimsy, disposable paper or plastic bags. Yes, it took some ink (and chemicals) to make my cloth bag, but now that I am reusing it again and [...]
September 10th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Dear Joe,
As a group of students form Chalmers University of Göteborg, Sweden, we are working on a Master project of Global Chemical Sustainability. Our course teacher is Magdalena Svanström, who is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Science at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. In this project we invest the environmental effects of paper bags.
Paper will be more and more important in the world, not only for large companies but also for smaller ones and personal use. Even paper bags are nowadays products which is part of daily use. Lots of paper bags all over the world are made from recycled paper.
On your nice webpage we saw some interesting information. Because of our curiosity we want to know where you get your numbers from. On the webpage there are no references. Can you tell me how reliable this article is?
Later on this Master project we compare Polyethylene bags with Paper bags and show what differences there are in energy production and harm of environment all over the world. Proudly we will send you the report when it is there.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Kind regards,
Reinout Barmen ‘t Loo
Student at Chalmers University, Göteborg, Sweden
September 10th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Hi Reinout,
I sent you an email that will hopefully help y’all out. Good luck over in Sweden.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Hi, I’ve read your website and i kind of agree with you, but i still woundering why you only list down the comparism of the disadvantage of plastic and paper bag? abd why not also the cloth bag?
I would like to know the production, cost, effect to environment, and the advantage and disadvantage of using cloth bag. as well as compare to the plastic and paper bag.
if you are only talk about the bad of using plastic or paper bags, what makes us to beliebe using cloth bag can be better than two of others? maybe it can be even worse, who knows?
if you don’t mine, can you sent informations to my hotmail
September 12th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
U. ho, that’s a good idea and I’ma look into that.
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:08 am
The making of paper can waste many thousands of gallons of water, as can the recycling of paper. The human and mechanical efforts and costs are very high, not forgetting the physical cost to loggers and those who work around the numerous chemicals. Plastic is, by comparison, efficient and low energy to produce, and, easily and efficiently recycled. Plastic reduces, recycles marvelously, and in that, is reused. After contrasting the efforts behind the making of paper and plastic, it is our unbiased opinion that plastic is indeed more beneficial to the environment, in that it is less harmful. I'm plastic all the way if I had to choose"PAper or Plastic":)
November 24th, 2008 at 2:20 am
I think the main problem arises when people litter their bags. Littered paper bags are a lot less harmful (and more temporary) than littered plastic bags. Really though, the clear eco-friendly choice is our good friend Mr. Reusable Cloth Bag.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:27 am
yo eco, you gettin way too wacked over bags, so go junmp in a lake
December 16th, 2008 at 3:29 am
How about I put the bag over your head??!?
January 21st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
it is awsome
January 21st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
GR8
April 14th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
wee
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
LOL THIS IS FUNNY
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:45 am
hey EcoJoe – i'm writing a paper for middle school and referring to this article. i need to include the author's name in the bibliography. how can i find out your name please?
November 24th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Hey "student", my name is Joe Peck. Good luck with your paper, stay in school and don't do drugs!!!