In the U.S., four out of five grocery bags are plastic, with the average American family accumulating nearly 60 plastic bags for every four trips to the grocery store. But is this by choice? If Americans knew how damaging those plastic bags are to the environment, would they choose them? Consider this (http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bag-facts):
• 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year, worldwide. 
• About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.
• A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade
• The U.S. alone goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year
• Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts, with every single square mile of ocean having about 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in it. 70% of which finds its way to the ocean floor, where it will likely never degrade
• Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.
• Only between .5% to 3% of all bags winds up recycled
So Choose Paper, Right?
Not so fast, pardner! There is evidence that the ready alternative, paper bags, are also very damaging to the environment:
• Paper bag production produces 70% more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than plastic bag production
• Waste by weight of paper bags is 400% higher than plastic and the amount of waste by volume is higher by more than 250%. With landfills running low on space, plastic is obviously preferable to plastic
• Cutting down forests to make paper bags is environmentally costly, as is transporting the bags to their ultimate destinations. Plastic bags are much thinner and lighter than paper bags, and take about 1/45 the truck space that paper bags take. That means transporting paper bags consumes 45 times more fuel, and produces 45 times the congestion and smog of plastic bags. (http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=45)
What’s the Answer: Think Outside the Bag
The first plastic sandwich bag came on the market in 1957. It took 20 more years before grocers began asking, “Paper or Plastic?” In its relatively brief lifespan, plastic has made a widespread, indelible impact on the planet.
Because they are such an environmental problem and eyesore, countries such as Ireland, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia and Bangladesh have taxed the bags heavily, or outright banned them. Several cities in the U.S. and the U.K. are doing the same.
Instead of paper or plastic, many people are now using reusable bags made from string, recycled plastic, baskets and boxes.
If you do choose plastic, please recycle them. Retailers like Wal-Mart and Target have recycling centers at many of their stores where you can drop off your used plastic bags. Between April and December, 2010, Target collected more than 170 million shopping bags (equal to more than 1800 tons). Laid end-to-end, they would stretch from L.A. to NYC more than 17 times.
So, the next time you are asked, “Paper or Plastic?” will you be able to say “Neither, I brought my own”?
More from GreenNurture
- How to Start a Business Recycling Program
- The Heart of Change – Making Change Last
- 6 Business Benefits for Recycling the Big 5
