Please tell me why plastic grocery bags are bad?

Question

They are recyclable and I do recycle, and I do believe that people should do too. If people do recycle them, why plastic bags are worse than paper bags? In order to make paper bags, you cut trees. My city is trying to eliminate plastic grocery bags from the stores, but what about paper bags?

Answer 1

many areas do not have the facilities to recycle plastic bags but the biggest problem with them is they are everywhere  look around in any metropolitan area and you will see them blowing around everywhere and they take centuries to decompose.Paper bags not much better but I don't know of anywhere they will replace them with plastic the big thing is the canvas bag it will come to the point were you will not get a bag from the store you will need your own when you shop

Answer 2

Good for your community for trying to eliminate plastic bags. 380 million plastic bags are made every year and less than one percent are recycled. That creates excess waste in your landfills and more plastic bags being introduced as litter in our environment. Plastic takes more than 1000 years to biodegrade and that's under good circumstances. But even that's a misstatement because plastic doesn't ever biodegrade fully but into small, tiny bits of plastic.

You should recycle or reuse the plastic bags that you may or may not have accumulated and invest in a reuable bag(s) that you can store in your car for when you go to the store. You can get reusable bags at many groceries or buy a plain bag at your local craft store.

Hope that helps ^_^

Answer 3

bring your own bad does not sound too healthy.I would leave my bags in the car trunk for days or weeks for that last minute shopping be for going home for dinner. no telling where other people bags have been.

Answer 4

because plastic bags are not biodegradable. we cut the trees to  

make the paper bags. but the effect from the plastic bag to the environment is high

Answer 5

According to me, paper bags are even worse than plastic bags. By using paper bags, you cut a lot of trees. Plastic bags are not bad but throwing them is bad. Plastic is recycleable so we can't make it bad. But the problem is that they are non biodegradable which means that they do not dispose in the soil. so people think that they are bad.

Answer 6

i don't know much about what kinds of plastic can be recycled and what kinds can not, but my own experience of the general public, is that people may reuse plastic grocery bags, but generally people don't recycle them, and indeed they aren't biodegradable... unless you have several thousand years!  the other thing that springs to mind, and often confuses me about plastic recycling, is that i have heard several places that the debate about recycling plastic is that it takes so much energy to actually do it, it becomes debatable as to whether it makes it worth while.  therefore using reusable cloth/plastic grocergy bags and taking them back to the store to use them time and time again really a better option.

Answer 7

The most environmentally friendly is to bring your own reusable bag (i.e. canvas bag).

If you can't or won't, then it depends.

Paper bags require more energy to produce and trees to be cut down, but are easily recyclable.

Plastic bags require less energy to produce, but are not recyclable.  They are reusable for other applications, but only if your area has a specific plastic grocery bag recycling program (every retail store in California is now required by law to have one, for example).

So from most to least environmentally friendly:

1) Bring canvas bag(s)

2) Plastic if there's a specific recycling program

3) Paper

4) Plastic if there's no recycling program

Answer 8

Just to quote an article I found...if you take into consideration that plastic often ends up killing our marine life, and that paper bags are compostable and plastic are not, I'd say paper bags are better, but that reusable bags are the ultimate (once we've worn holes in the plastic bags lying around our homes.)

Click on the link below to look at some of the damage plastic bags do and decide for yourself:  http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index...

"Paper vs. Plastic - The Shopping Bag Debate

You step up to the register, the cashier asks if you've found everything ok and then the inevitable question is asked: "Will it be paper or plastic?"

What decision did you make? Was it an informed choice? Was it the best ecological choice? Well, to answer that, we need to start at the beginning and review each option and its impact on the environment.

The Origin of Paper Bags:

Paper comes from trees - and lots of them. The logging industry is huge and the process to get that paper bag to the grocery store is long and environmentally taxing. First, the trees are found, marked and felled. Machinery is then used to remove the logs from the forest floor- whether it by logging trucks or, in more remote areas, helicopters.

Machinery requires fossil fuel and roads (which destroys habitat) thereby creating stress on the forests' inhabitants (Even logging a small area has a large impact on the entire ecological chain in surrounding areas).

Trees must dry at least three years before they can be used. Machinery is used to strip the bark, which is then chipped into one-inch squares and cooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This wood stew is then "digested" with a limestone and sulphurous acid for eight hours. The steam and moisture is vented to the outside atmosphere, and the original wood becomes pulp. It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to make one ton of pulp.

The pulp is then washed and bleached, both stages requiring thousands of gallons of clean water. Coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water to make paper. The pulp/water mixture is dumped into a web of bronze wires, the water showers through, leaving the pulp, which, in turn, is rolled into paper.

Whew! And that's just to make the paper. We must include all of the chemicals, electricity, and fossil fuels used in the shipment of this raw material and in the production and shipment of a finished paper bag.

Where does a paper bag end its useful life?

Paper, when thrown away, can either be recycled or end up in the landfill. If it ends up in the landfill, over time (and usually many,many years) it will break down. If it ends up in the recycling center, the following process occurs:

First the paper must be returned to pulp. This is done by the use of several different chemicals including sodium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium silicate. These chemicals bleach and spread out the pulp fibers. These fibers are then run through cleaning and screening sequences that remove any contaminants. The pulp must then be washed with clean water to remove ink particles that were removed from the paper by the chemical process.

Flotation is a common method to remove ink. The pulp is submerged in clean water and heated. The ink attaches to air bubbles, which must then be removed before they break and let the ink float back to the pulp.

Most recycling centers treat the water they use to remove contaminants. Screens and mechanical cleaners are the typical methods used. Another, more environmentally friendly method is called 'sludge handling'. Sludge is composed of water, inks, pigments and small particles of waste. The materials are separated and cleaned. By including this process, it reduces any waste that may have to be taken to the landfill. These waste materials can be used in bricks, fertilizers and other useful products.

Other uses for paper bags:

If well packed a single grocery size paper bag can hold the same volume of up to 4 plastic bags. Reuse them as trash can liners and for craft projects. They also make great weed barriers and eventually break down and naturally compost.

It is also important to note that paper bags can be composted (provided they don't have a lot of printing on them). You can throw them straight into the compost pile, or fill with yard waste. Simply pitch the whole bag, green waste and all, into the compost pile.

Where does that plastic bag come from?

Plastic is a petroleum product - it comes from oil. As we all know, the oil industry is no small potatoes and is the cause of worldwide financial and political turmoil.

Traps of oil are located around the planet. Once a trap is located, a hole is drilled and a pipe is rammed into the oil deposit. The oil is forced to the top of the surface due to both the pressure inside the chamber and the weight of the earth above. Once a pump is in place, the whole operation is fairly simple and little oil is lost. The pumped oil is either piped or trucked to a refining facility where plastic is made.

Plastic is a by-product of oil refining and accounts for 4% of the worlds total oil production. It is a 'biogeochemical' manipulation of certain properties of oil, into polymers. Plastic polymers are manufactured into five main types; plastic bags are made from polyethylene. Polyethylene, as a raw material, can be manipulated into any shape, size, form or color. It is watertight and can be made UV resistant. Anything can be printed on it and it can be reused.

For the most part, the whole process of making plastic bags requires only electricity (minus the large, fuel burning heavy machinery required to acquire the oil). The electricity used in the actual production and manufacturing of plastic bags comes from coal fire power plants, which, it is interesting to note, 50% of that electricity is generated from the burning of old tires (made from rubber which is essentially, plastic).

Where does plastic go when thrown away?

Like paper, plastic bags can end up in two places: the landfill or the recycling center. If a plastic bag ends up in a landfill, it will stay intact for thousands of years. Plastic does not compost. With plastic products in the mix, garbage does not have a chance to break down over time. Landfills are considered airtight, which explains why after 20 years you can find a hot dog that is still fully intact and a newspaper with articles clearly legible.

Plastic is fabulous in that it is recyclable. All you have to do is basically re-melt and re-form. The re-melting process also sterilizes the plastic thus allowing any recycled plastic to be made into hospital grade products. Plastic can be recycled many times before it becomes brittle - then it can be made into something as functional as a mousepad or a doormat. Please note that not all plastic bags can be recycled and many stores that collect them, simply send them to the landfill for lack of another alternative.

Plastic's Impact:

Plastic impacts the environment two ways. The first is through the use of electricity during manufacturing. More than half of the electricity needed to make plastic bags is generated by nuclear fission. Nuclear energy has its arguments (that's a whole other issue) that it doesn't directly harm the environment. The main drawback is the disposal of radioactive waste. So far this has been done in deep underground caves or in deep sea trenches where the nuclear waste is sub-ducted into the earths mantle and incinerated.

Plastic not being recycled can be burned yielding from 10,000 to 20,000 btu per pound (60% of which can be recovered) creating electricity. This can reduce the overall sulphur emissions from coal.

The burning of plastics has its cons. Inks and additives found in plastic can create dioxins when burned as well as emit heavy metals. The ash itself is toxic and needs to be disposed of in toxic waste dumps. And then, does this use justify the continued use of limited natural resources?

Plastic also impacts the environment through landfills. Plastic does not break down - your yogurt container will always be there. And biodegradable plastic is really non-existent. What happens here is that wood fibers are mixed with plastic fibers. When the bag is disposed of, the wood fibers break down leaving millions of tiny plastic pieces to mix in the earth.

An argument can be made that plastic decreases landfill mass. Plastics as a whole make up 18% of waste by volume and 7% by weight (plastic bags themselves are light and take up very little space). If plastic were to be replaced by other materials, trash weight would increase by 150%, packaging would weigh 300% more and energy consumed by the industry would increase by 100%.

Plastic has other benefits. Reduction in aircraft weight saves an average of 10,000 gallons of fuel per plane, per annum, the world over. Since 1970, plastic has been responsible for doubling automobile fuel economy.

Conclusion:

Both paper and plastic bags consume large amounts of natural resources and the majority will eventually end up in the landfill. Both bags can be recycled to some extent and can be utilized around the house. We've read several studies comparing the two choices and none of them agree. Some feel plastic is the better overall choice, others paper. It's really tough to say. Paper may consume more resources to produce, however, it is also more recyclable than plastic if you include the fact that paper can be composted and plastic bags cannot.

In our opinion, neither one is the winner. The best choice overall, is a reusable bag. They're made from renewable resources, take minimal energy, are light, durable (each holds up to 40 lbs) and last for years. Some can be machine-washed and are great to keep in the trunk of the car. Use them at the beach, farmers market and, of course, supermarket. Plus, many supermarkets will give you up to 5 cents per bag credit. Typically, a bag will pay for itself in a year and a half if you buy groceries once a week. We have, just this week, heard rumblings that in some countries, supermarkets are beginning to charge customers for every bag at checkout. If this practice makes its way to the U.S., then string bags are an even smarter financial choice.

Taking all the above information into consideration, feel confident that you are making an informed decision the next time you're at the supermarket. The most important thing to remember is to utilize every possible use for both the plastic and paper bags to lengthen their life and minimize the impact on both the environment and our natural resources." http://www.greenfeet.net/newsletter/deba...

Answer 9

I'm clueless on this one.  I struggle with it every time I get groceries.

Answer 10

Plastic is not biodegradable. The real move is not as much toward paper as it is to the customer bringing cloth bags to the store and carrying their purchases in them. They are reusable and cost about $1 each. They are actually much easier to carry as you can put the bag on your shoulder as a female does with a pocket book.

That is the way it is done in Europe and if you watch, it will happen here. Public Supermarket is the leader of the pack in this effort.

Answer 11

There are many reasons why plastic bags are not good. For one thing many of them end up as litter, enter drains and open waters, and some animals may eat them thinking they are food.  I know it sounds silly but it is a proven fact - it happens all the time.  Also, people put their waste in them as rubbish bags, and in particular they put in stuff that would normally break down and return nutrients to the earth, such as green waste (peelings, egg shells, stale bread etc).  Even those enviro bags arent very enviro friendly if they are not made from recycled items, nor the dye being biodegradabe, and we get more and more of them than we really need, because many companies have turned them into a fashion item.  There are companies that are making huge profits from the production of these 'enviro' bags which are meant to help us avoid plastic bags altogether.  Oh and I once asked the manager of a store why he didn't use alternative packaging to the plastic bags. He said that the bags act as advertising for them - huge logo right in the middle!  Hmmmm. With plastic bags, don't think of it as a habit you have to break, but more of an ethical alternative you wish to adopt - using reusable bags and creating less landfill.  Cheers! :)  PS. I live practically plastic bag free. Very easy to do.