In Praise of Paper Bags (recycle, reusable, pollution, plastic)

[Wilson513]

I like paper bags. My favorite is sandwich bags. They are wholesome looking. They are soft and nicely colored (earth tones) and they feel good when you touch them. Unlike nasty plastic bags. And if something is leaking a little in a paper bag you know it right away, before your whole sandwich is ruined or whatever. And paper bags are 100% biodegradable.

[gentlearts]

I agree. I use reusable totes for my groceries now, but before that I used paper bags. I then recycled them. I feel using sustainable wood pulp is far better than dumping a bunch of plastic onto the landfills.

[IamCSpelch]

yes paper bags remain an option in grocery stores and are preferred by many consumers for convenience.

[Terryj]

Before you praise paper bags, have you looked at the costs involved it making paper bags. The average American family will use 1000 paper bags per year, this is assuming we do away with plastic bags. It takes about 14 million trees to make 10 billion paper bags, this is one issue. The chemicals used in paper manufacturing pollute rivers, the energy used to make paper bags is very high, very high carbon foot print.
Lets look at some stats:
Renewable resource:......................... paper (yes) Plastic (no)
Energy required to make:.................. paper (very high) Plastic (med)
Water pollution created...................... paper (very high) Plastic (low)
Air pollution created.......................... paper (very high) plastic (med)
Chemicals used................................. paper (very high) plastic (high)
Recycle ............................................paper (med) plastic (low)
Landfill space....................................paper ( very high) plastic (med)
Degrade-ability................................. paper (high) plastic (low)

This information comes from this site:Paper or Plastic Shopping Bags?

The solution for these problems is not found in paper bags or plastic bags, it found in reusable shopping bags.

[TerraDown]

By the year 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish.
Thanks, but I'll stick with paper, or cloth that I can take over and over again to grocery.

[Terryj]

Originally Posted by TerraDown

By the year 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish.
Thanks, but I'll stick with paper, or cloth that I can take over and over again to grocery.

Both paper bags and plastic bags have huge impacts to the environment both in their different ways, the solution is reusable shopping bags like the cloth ones, and even producing these has an environmental impact, but it is lesser than the other two choices.

[in_newengland]

At least we can use the cloth bags over and over and over. IF we can remember to take them with us, lol.

I don't understand why the cloth bags aren't promoted anymore like they used to be. Now if I show up with my cloth bag, I get funny looks. But at least some places have banned the plastic, like the city next to me. At least the paper will degrade but the plastic could be around forever.

[gentlearts]

I try to remember to use my cloth bags for groceries. If I don't, I like paper bags. My thinking is, that the paper mills here grow trees specifically for making paper. Trees are a renewable resource. Plastic bags are just nasty.

[hiero2]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

At least we can use the cloth bags over and over and over. IF we can remember to take them with us, lol.

I don't understand why the cloth bags aren't promoted anymore like they used to be. Now if I show up with my cloth bag, I get funny looks. But at least some places have banned the plastic, like the city next to me. At least the paper will degrade but the plastic could be around forever.

Around where I am - in central Mass, your own bags is more the norm than not. I never get funny looks, and all the checkers deal with the bags just fine. I well remember what it was like, bringing your own bags, 20-30 years ago. Then I got funny looks!

I used to have problems remembering to carry them with me - but now I just make sure I have a half dozen or so in the back of the car at all times. Once I unload the bags after shopping, I fold them up, put them all inside one bag, and put it where I will remember to take them out to the car when I next go somewhere. Works a charm.

[pigeonhole]

I advise theose who minimize the impact of plastic bags (and plastic bottles too!) on the environment to look back at pictures of cities 50 years ago (on the eve of the Plastic Revolution) and now. The degree of today's visual pollution is GROSS!