Paper vs. Plastic

[Sigma]

Great article about some misconceptions.  Thoughts?

Reason Foundation
http://reason.org
http://reason.org/news/show/paper-grocery-bags-require-mor


Paper Grocery Bags Require More Energy Than Plastic Bags
Paper vs. plastic debate shows how good environmental intentions coupled with bad information lead us astray

Skaidra Smith-Heisters
April 17, 2008

Whole Foods Market won't offer plastic shopping bags at their stores after Earth Day this year. It is a savvy move for the upscale natural foods retailer, who estimates that by the end of the year the policy will have averted use of 100 million new plastic grocery bags at their 270 stores. It won't save the company any money-since the paper and multi-use bags that will replace plastic bags at their stores cost more to manufacture, stock and handle-but it is a savvy public relations move that will likely help to soothe the guilty environmental consciences of devoted Whole Foods shoppers who, like most Americans, believe paper bags are environmentally superior to plastic bags.

Unfortunately, the reality is that paper isn't better than plastic.

One hundred million new plastic grocery bags require the total energy equivalent of approximately 8300 barrels of oil for extraction of the raw materials, through manufacturing, transport, use and curbside collection of the bags. Of that, 30 percent is oil and 23 percent is natural gas actually used in the bag-the rest is fuel used along the way. That sounds like a lot until you consider that the same number of paper grocery bags use five times that much total energy. A paper grocery bag isn't just made out of trees. Manufacturing 100 million paper bags with one-third post-consumer recycled content requires petroleum energy inputs equivalent to approximately 15,100 barrels of oil plus additional inputs from other energy sources including hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and wood waste.

Making sound environmental choices is hard, especially when the product is "free," like bags at most grocery stores. When the cashier rings up a purchase and bags it in a paper bag, the consumer doesn't see that it took at least a gallon of water to produce that bag (more than 20 times the amount used to make a plastic bag), that it weighed 10 times more on the delivery truck and took up seven times as much space as a plastic bag in transit to the store, and will ultimately result in between tens and hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than a plastic bag.

Biodegradable bags don't fare much better than paper bags; in a recent life cycle analysis, one type of compostable plastic bag was found to use somewhat less total energy and generate less solid waste, but represent more fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, and fresh water use than the comparable paper bag.

Part of the invisible cost of shopping bags is passed down to consumers as retailers recoup the price they pay for the bags-pennies in the case of plastic, a nickel or a dime for paper bags (ones with handles cost more), and the same or more again for biodegradable plastic bags. Costs like greenhouse gas emissions and air or water pollution might eventually be captured in a carbon tax, cap-and-trade scheme, or regulatory fee (again, ultimately passed down to consumers, whether they are aware of it or not). Still other costs are borne by the public (e.g. litter pick-up) or in less calculable ways (e.g. diminished aesthetic values or impacts to marine animals).

The good news is that, given a choice between plastic, paper and multi-use grocery bags, most people make the best available environmental choice: whichever bag they are most likely to reuse. In an informal online MSNBC survey last month, 38 percent of respondents said reusability was the most important factor in choosing what type of grocery bag to use. The plurality, 41 percent, choose plastic. Twenty-eight percent reported that environmental concerns were their top consideration and-unfortunately, given the comparative life cycle analyses-56 percent believed that paper is more "environmentally friendly."

The vast majority of people reuse "single-use" plastic bags for household tasks like bagging garbage and cleaning up messes. Ireland's plastic bag tax, initiated in 2002 to combat the aesthetic impacts of litter on tourism, virtually eliminated the use of the targeted bags but also resulted in a 77 percent increase in the sale of kitchen garbage bags. San Francisco's first-in-the-nation ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags last year surely has had similar rebound affects.

Nationwide, the most recent Environmental Protection Agency data show recycling rates for broad categories that include paper and plastic grocery bags to be 25 and 9 percent, respectively. The recycling rate for plastic is growing quickly under the pressure of new mandates and markets. The actual amount recovered nationwide doubled between 2005 and 2006. Most of the plastic bags recycled are reclaimed for use in the United States or Canada to manufacture decking, railing and fencing which replace the use of virgin forest products.

For those bags that aren't recycled, misconceptions about plastic and paper bags follow them all the way to their graves. In a landfill, paper bags, petroleum-based plastic bags and even degradable plastic bags share roughly the same fate. Modern landfills are managed for stability, not decomposition. Plastic bags can be better in a landfill because their compact size takes up the least space and, as opposed to biodegradable bags, they release zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Reusable shopping bags may be the norm at Whole Foods a year from now, but they're not for everyone in every circumstance. A multi-use plastic or durable bag is environmentally and economically cost-effective only if it is actually used multiple times. Some of these bags are recyclable or compostable, others are not. The basic principles of conservation apply here: the greenest individual choice is the one that results in the greatest actual reduction, reuse and recycling.

Less than a year after a law requiring grocery stores to accept plastic bags for recycling took effect, lawmakers in California are now proposing mandatory reductions in plastic bag use and up to a 25-cent charge for plastic grocery bags statewide.

Those who are cognizant of the environmental realities of the paper versus plastic debate, but nevertheless believe providing complimentary plastic bags at grocery stores should be illegal, cling optimistically to the idea that plastic grocery bags can be erased from the environmental equation without unintended consequences. At present, the only honest assessment is that a plastic bag ban is a de facto paper bag mandate, and increased use of paper bags means an increase in environmental ills including air and water pollution, greater energy and water use and higher greenhouse gas emissions.

In a sense, the persistent view of plastic bag use as emblematic of the nation's progress on environmental issues is right for the wrong reasons. It shows how far good intentions coupled with bad information can lead us astray.

[copperfiend]

Publix green bags

[Dog Walker]

When we go to Publix and forget to bring our cloth bags and ask for plastic, we get a dozen or so bags.  When we ask for paper, we get three because they hold so much more, so a bag for bag comparison of energy consumption is misleading.

We have secondary uses for both plastic (walking the dogs) and paper (line the trash can) bags, so that issue was misrepresented as well.

Paper bags biodegrade, plastic ones do not.

Reason magazine always presents interesting alternative views.  I have been a subscriber.  It is not and does not claim to be an objective, analytical publication.

[buckethead]

It doesn't mention the effects of the reusable publix green bags either.

The fact that people do forget them. They can also lose them or throw them away for various reasons. The reusable bags come in a variety of materials. No studies on the actual environmental impact of these?

[Jason]

I see your points Dog Walker.

It seems that when comparing the impact on the environment as a waste product only, paper is better than plastic.  But when looking at the overall start to finish impact on the environment, plastic has the edge.

I guess the only aspect not mentioned is the potential threat to wildlife.  Paper is very temporary when left to the elements but plastic can clog drainage systems, smother/trap animals, and perform a multitude of other detrimental tasks.  There are many pros and cons on both sides.

[Sportmotor]

I like paper bags over plastic because if you need to poke holes in it for someone you take home to wear as a...facehat well it just works out! And reuseable

Now plastic facehats, well those haven't worked out so well...they work tragically >_>

[chipwich]

I think we can all do our part by just trying to use less bags (either type).  At the grocery store, I  try my best to avoid using many bags.  I always ask for plastic, but I like to have them stuffed as much as possible and keep drinks/ big items bag free. 


I love the convinence and reusabile nature of the plastic bags too much to stop using them.

[Dog Walker]

I see your points Dog Walker.

It seems that when comparing the impact on the environment as a waste product only, paper is better than plastic.  But when looking at the overall start to finish impact on the environment, plastic has the edge.

I guess the only aspect not mentioned is the potential threat to wildlife.  Paper is very temporary when left to the elements but plastic can clog drainage systems, smother/trap animals, and perform a multitude of other detrimental tasks.  There are many pros and cons on both sides.

If you have every had to clean a plastic bag out of the strainer of your boat or off the foot of your outboard motor and THEN replace the cooked pump impeller, you will always ask for paper.  I understand that the clear plastic bags that ice comes in also look like jellyfish to sea turtles and that they die when the bags clog up their digestive systems.  KEEP YOUR TRASH INBOARD!

[Sigma]

Paper is very temporary when left to the elements but plastic can clog drainage systems, smother/trap animals, and perform a multitude of other detrimental tasks. 

Yeah, paper left out in the elements does break down pretty quick and those plastic baggies seem to stay around a while.  I think the article should have discussed some of these aspects a little further.

[Jason]

Ha, I have had to clean a bag off of a boat propeller!  They can also do a number to your car axels when you pick one up on the highway.

It looks like the "litter" aspect of plastic is the major negative.

[Lunican]

Plastic bags are much worse for the environment when you look beyond just energy use. Besides choking animals to death and clogging storm drains, they are made from polyethylene which eventually breaks down and contaminates the ground and water.

China and many other countries have now banned them. U.S. cities are considering it. I think San Francisco has a ban in place now because the SF Bay was being overrun with them.

[Captain Zissou]

I thought everyone knew paper was better?  Energy consumption is only a factor.  Plastic doesn't break down well, if at all.  The fact that it will remain in landfills, rivers, swamps, wherever for as long as the earth is around should be evidence enough not to use it.

[CrysG]

I use a tote bag I bought in the mountains or a Publix green bag. Normally if I don't have my reusables I'd get the plastic bags because I used them again at home but after reading some points people have made about the plastic bags I'll start to use paper.

[Captain Zissou]

Unlisted reuse for the paper bags... When I was in kindergarten we made them into "native american" (keepin it PC) costumes for Thanksgiving. 

[Overstreet]

I usually carry a plastic bag in the boat for trash. Last boat use I cleaned out the electronics compartment of gulp baits, fishing lures, sinkers, charts, etc and put them on one plastic bag to be sorted in the garage. I also pulled off the trash bag. It was hot..........I was tired.  I cannot find the bag of good stuff. I think it went into the trash.

Those plastic bags are good for depositing the cat litter "tootsie rolls" into. 

The paper and cloth ones work better for groceries .......... and fishing tackle.