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AlterNet reports
It's a basic question faced by millions of shoppers every day: paper or plastic? Making the best choice for the environment, however, is less simple.
Last November, Californians approved Proposition 67, which upheld a 2014 ban on the issuing of single-use plastic bags in grocery and drug stores. As a result, shops were able to continue charging customers around a dime for reusable plastic or paper bags. The ban seems effective because it should lead to a reduction in plastic waste. More importantly, the extra charge aims to incentivize people to bring their own reusable bags to the store. But let's face it, many shoppers still forget, which brings us back to that darn choice we often have to make at the checkout line.
So, which option is better?
[...]The U.K. Environment Agency, a governmental research group, conducted a similar inquiry around the same time period. Its report[PDF] was a life cycle assessment comparing the environmental impacts of a variety of grocery bags. From extensive research, some of the study's key findings concluded that:
- Single-use plastic bags outperformed all alternatives, even reusable ones, on environmental performance.
- Plastic bags have a much lower global warming potential.
- The environmental impact of all types of bag is dominated by the resource use and production stages. Transport, secondary packaging, and end-of-life management generally have minimal influence on their performance.
- Whatever type of bag is used, the key to reducing the impacts is to reuse it as many times as possible.
The ecological break-even point with a cloth grocery bag comes on its 131st use.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @05:50AM
Paper in fact do not decompose in landfill due to the lack of oxygen, and takes up much more space than thin plastic bags.
(Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Thursday January 19 2017, @09:11AM
that sounds reasonable, but can we have a source?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @11:04AM
I suppose that there are some microbes that can consume paper in the absence of air, but I figure they'd be pretty exotic and not the kinds of critters you'd find laying around waiting to get to work on that.
If you're really interested, here's a seed. [google.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @09:20AM
Paper is not supposed to go to landfill anyway. Landfill is always the last option after bio degradation and incineration, and paper qualifies for both. If paper is ending up in landfill, you were never trying to do something about it in the first place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @07:25PM
My choice is paper which then goes into recycle....I assume this is the best for the environment.
The OP addresses those cases where I should have brought my good canvas bag that will last a long time, but forgot. My choice is paper, but your answer lies in what you will do after you get home....if it goes in the trash because you have a good sturdy canvas bag that you forgot, then I think that paper is the wiser choice if you recycle it.
Reusable plastic is better if you will reuse it a number of times before it gets tossed.
(Score: 2) by Leebert on Thursday January 19 2017, @08:05PM
Why? Don't those disposal options release carbon into the atmosphere, whereas paper buried in a landfill sequesters it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @08:44PM
So paper makes a stable structural base for building suburban housing in a previous landfill.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @10:22PM
That is a feature. Any idea for a better carbon sequestration? This is pretty good.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 20 2017, @05:55AM
I call (to your attention) the bullshit!!! No, literally, think of it!
It is made from the degradation of cellulose by the bacteria in the bull's guts.
Which are of the anaerobic kind [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford