Discover Green Bay area


shea-dypines.com keyword stats



Most current MSN search phrases:

green  
Most current Yahoo search phrases:

younkers +furniture +green bay  

Paper or Plastic: The Debate Over Grocery Store Bags

So which will it be then, paper ORplastic, like other products with a
plastic, hmmm? The question is tough topetroleum base, comes from oil, which is
avoid, unless you've figured out how todrilled from the earth, piped or trucked
eat without EVER going to the groceryand later refined. Some properties of
store. Chances are, most of us haven'toil are manipulated into five principal
given the choice too much thought - ortypes of polymers, during the process by
if we have, we remained clueless as towhich plastic is made from oil. Plastic
which was the lesser of the two evils.bags are made from one of these five
Understanding the impact that paper andtypes, known as polyethylene, which is a
plastic bags have on the environment ishighly manipulate-able material - it's
a great place to start. Inevitably,re-useable, printable, and can be
consciousness will lead you to purchaseformatted into a variety of shapes,
a canvas or otherwise re-useable bag forsizes and colors. Although the process
your grocery shopping, but educatingof making plastic requires energy and
yourself on the differences betweenmay in fact do little else to damage the
paper and plastic is also a smart idea.environment, the negative effects of oil
The Troubles With Paper Bagsdrilling are numerous.
It's common knowledge that paper comesPlastic Bags and Recycling
from trees that are found and laterIn some ways, plastic bags are no
felled by the logging industry. Loggingdifferent from paper - including the
involves machines -- from the machinesfact that post-use, they either end up
used to remove the trees from thein a landfill or they get recycled. In
forests, to the logging trucks orthe landfill, however, it will not
helicopters involved in the process ofcompost, and actually interrupts the
harvesting, to the machines used tobreaking down of other garbage products
strip the bark - and like anythingwith which it is mixed in the landfill.
involving machines, fossil fuels are notIn most cases, to recycle the material,
far behind. Forest habitat is destroyedone merely has to melt it down (thereby
in the process, and surrounding ecologysterilizing it) and then form it into
is negatively impacted. Sources sayanother shape, for instance, a new bag.
that "in 1999, 14 million trees were cutRecycling of plastic bags can take place
to produce the 10 billion paper grocerymany times before the material becomes
bags used by Americans that year alone."too brittle to go through the process;
To accelerate the drying process thatafter these stages of recycling, it can
trees must go through in order to bestill take on another use as a different
prepared for pulp, they are stripped,functional product.
chipped and "cooked" under heat with anWhen plastic is burned during recycling,
acid (composed of sulphurous acid andit can create dioxins and release heavy
limestone), for hours. From nearly threemetals into the atmosphere; the ash from
tons of these wood chips will come oneburning plastic is toxic and needs
ton of pulp, which must be washed andspecial consideration during disposal.
bleached, requiring large amounts ofIn landfills, plastic does not break
clean water. Coloring is later added,down - it always remains plastic, maybe
after which the mixture of pulp andjust in smaller pieces that mix in with
water is filtered and rolled into paper.the earth.
Through production, packaging andSo Which Does Green Eggs and Planet
shipping, more fuels and chemicals areThink Is Better? Paper or Plastic?
used and further environmental damage isOn the plus side, both materials can be
sustained.recycled, and both materials have
Paper Bags and Recyclingmultiple uses beyond the initial holding
After a paper bag is used, it willof the groceries. The manufacture of
either end up in a landfill or it willboth paper and plastic bags burns
be recycled. Eventually, after manythrough natural resources, and both
years, the paper bag will break down incause damage to the environment during
the landfill. At the recycling center,production. While paper is more
through the use of chemicals to breakrecycle-able than plastic, it also
down the materials and clean them, theresults in the destruction of more
paper becomes pulp once more. Paper bagsresources through the process of paper
eventually break down and can beproduction. I think if you are going to
composted, unless they are covered withuse paper OR plastic bags at the super
printing and ink.market, I would say to make sure you
The Saga of the Grocery Store Plasticmaximize the uses you get out of either,
Bagand more importantly, be sure to
Some people overlook the fact thatrecycle.



1 A B C 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96