Which is worse for the environment? Paper or plastic?

Question

What is worse...using plastic bags or paper bags at the grocery store?

Answer 1

plastic.  I believe it does not decompose.

Answer 2

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 3

plastic is worse for the environment

Answer 4

I'm not sure, but I think plastic takes a very very long time to desintegrate. Using paper bags, means killing trees to make bags...and trees are important for life...species that need them, and for the quality of the air we breath...paper can be recycled, so it will save a tree! I don't know if the plastic used for the grocery store can be recycled.

Answer 5

Plastic- takes more energy to produce, and hard to break down to reuse/decompose.

Answer 6

plastic!

Answer 7

plastic...it can't break down like paper can

Answer 8

Buy reusable canvas bags, even better then paper.

Answer 9

what makes you think there bad for the environment?

did you know that we get both plastic and paper from the environment, why not give back? BURN PLASTIC

Answer 10

PLASTIC

Answer 11

I don't want to be simplistic.

The paper used in grocery bags has a lot of acid in it when water hits it and it then begins to biodegrade. Most of these bags end up in landfills so when it rains on these if the water is allowed to soak in, the groundwater gets polluted by the acid released by the bags.

The pulp for the paper bags comes mainly from tree farms, these are not forests with a lot of animals and biologic diversity, they are mono-crop acreage of equal age trees.

Paper can be made from 100% rags as well, anything that has fibers really, so if the bag isn't claiming some recycled content then the negative impact to make it is a lot greater than to blow a plastic film for one.

Plastic grocery bags are rather inert and don't pollute groundwater in a landfill, relative to paper, they pollute hardly at all. When you blow a film to make bags from the environment point of view the things to watch are emissions from volatiles and how the plant gets its electricity, other than those it's a tightly controlled process that by the nature of plastics is efficient at power use and all, power use is a big issue and constantly being addressed.

Plastic bags get blown everywhere, they are like helium filled balloons, they get caught by winds and travel tens of miles aloft before settling back down. This does have a negative impact on some animals. Paper bags don't do this.

Paper bags in a landfill do not biodegrade over human time scales, neither do newspapers or much else, there is no oxygen down there, not enough heat, no moisture and where there is moisture the effluent is pollutive for many years before leaching diminishes their potency.

So, overall with all this in mind my thought was that plastic was better for bags, and still use them when needed. Now most stores have the recycle bin for plastic bags right at the door making the choice easier.

Answer 12

plastic, with pollution it hurts animals by them getting trapped in it.

Paper comes from trees and trees arent bad !

Answer 13

By all means plastic, it takes forever to decompose. If the pilgrims used six packs the plastic rings from back then would still be around today.  Nearly 89% of all marine litter is plastic as well, of the 115 species of marine mammals, 49 species are known to become entangled in and/or ingest marine litter. The worst part is that the plastic does not go away after it kills an animal no once the animal dies and decompose the plastic is alive and kicking, meaning the same piece of plastic that killed that cute little birdie over there well do it again. Not only that marine litter that is plastic absorbs toxins so when it is ingested it also poisons the animals as well.

It is estimated that there is over 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating on every square mile of ocean today.

It takes about 450 years just for one plastic bottle to break down in the ground!

Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every HOUR.

An average 323 plastic bags are taken into our homes every year and it takes 500 years to decay when sent to landfill.

A plastic milk jug takes 1 million years to decompose.

A plastic cup can take 50 - 80 years to decompose.

Answer 14

I believe plastic is because it takes a long time to decompose.  And it is toxic.

Answer 15

plastic it is made from oil

Answer 16

PLASTIC IS WORSE!!!  It takes oil to make plastic and in doesnt degrade at all.  Paper comes from trees, which can be renewed and will break down faster....a piece of paper is nothing more than a stick in a  different shape....and sticks dont hurt the environment

Answer 17

You should get paper from the grocery store. Plastic is worse for the environment. That is because it is made up of oil, which uses a lot of energy and is bad for the earth to dig up. Plus they blow away in the wind and animals choke on them, they get caught into trees, and eventually end up where nobody wants them. Paper is better. We are not anywhere near to running out of trees. And they will not blow away as easily. When you get them from the grocery store, you are not using as much of them either. That is less gone to waste! Everybody wins! So definetely go with paper.