TREES, OIL, AND BAGS

            For decades we have been challenged with the question, “Paper or plastic”? Our answer is usually predetermined and now we seldom ask ourselves what difference it makes. Mostly we choose based on convenience.
            The Washington Post, October 2007, in an article titled, “Plastic or Paper” reported information that could help us understand that bringing your own reusable bag is definitely the best choice.  According to the Post:

• Annually ten billion paper bags use 10 million trees; 100 billion plastic bags use 12 million barrels of oil.
• Paper bags require cutting and drying logs, heat and pressure, sulfuric acid and limestone, thousands of gallons of fresh water, and bleach; plastic bags use plastic pellets heated and drawn into a long thin tube. Four times as much energy is used to make a paper bag than to make a plastic bag.
• Paper bags generate 70% more air and 40% more water pollutants than plastic bags; five of the top six chemicals that generate the most hazardous waste are used by the plastics industry.
• Paper bags have a better recycling rate than plastic bags but they are not recycled into more bags – new paper bags are made from virgin trees; it takes 98% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than to recycle a pound of paper. About 3% of plastic bags are recycled; 15% of paper bags are recycled.
• Paper is degradable but it cannot completely break down in modern landfills where most garbage is buried beneath layers of soil so that air and sunlight cannot get to materials to break them down; petroleum plastics are not degradable, but plastic bags take up less space than paper bags in a landfill.
• 2,000 plastic bags weigh 30 pounds; 2,000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds.
• Paper bags are biodegradable and cause fewer litter problems. Discarded plastic bags easily blow into trees and waterways where they can kill birds and marine life.

            Emagazine.com, September 9, 2007, reports a landmark 1980 study by the research firm Franklin Associates that factored in every step of the manufacturing, distribution and disposal stages of a grocery bag’s usable life and actually gave the nod to plastic bags. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, considering the effect on marine life from the large amount of litter from plastic bags, have recently banned (by early 2008) the use of plastic bags by large supermarkets and pharmacies.
            You can think twice about accepting a bag for a small purchase easy to carry. When you have chosen bags, paper or plastic, you can reuse and/or recycle them. In your lifetime, you can save the impact on the environment of thousands of plastic or paper bags by investing in sturdy reusable bags or plastic crates.

Della Moen, Earth Team Volunteer, NRCS/Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District, an equal opportunity provider and employer, 11/28/07 (for publication on 12/08/07 in the Journal-Standard, Freeport, Illinois). Della can be reached at info@stephensonswcd.org