| So which will it be then, paper OR plastic, hmmm? | | | | Some people overlook the fact that plastic, like other |
| The question is tough to avoid, unless you've figured | | | | products with a petroleum base, comes from oil, |
| out how to eat without EVER going to the grocery | | | | which is drilled from the earth, piped or trucked and |
| store. Chances are, most of us haven't given the | | | | later refined. Some properties of oil are manipulated |
| choice too much thought - or if we have, we | | | | into five principal types of polymers, during the |
| remained clueless as to which was the lesser of the | | | | process by which plastic is made from oil. Plastic bags |
| two evils. Understanding the impact that paper and | | | | are made from one of these five types, known as |
| plastic bags have on the environment is a great place | | | | polyethylene, which is a highly manipulate-able material |
| to start. Inevitably, consciousness will lead you to | | | | - it's re-useable, printable, and can be formatted into |
| purchase a canvas or otherwise re-useable bag for | | | | a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Although the |
| your grocery shopping, but educating yourself on the | | | | process of making plastic requires energy and may in |
| differences between paper and plastic is also a smart | | | | fact do little else to damage the environment, the |
| idea. | | | | negative effects of oil drilling are numerous. |
| The Troubles With Paper Bags | | | | Plastic Bags and Recycling |
| It's common knowledge that paper comes from | | | | In some ways, plastic bags are no different from |
| trees that are found and later felled by the logging | | | | paper - including the fact that post-use, they either |
| industry. Logging involves machines -- from the | | | | end up in a landfill or they get recycled. In the landfill, |
| machines used to remove the trees from the | | | | however, it will not compost, and actually interrupts |
| forests, to the logging trucks or helicopters involved | | | | the breaking down of other garbage products with |
| in the process of harvesting, to the machines used | | | | which it is mixed in the landfill. In most cases, to |
| to strip the bark - and like anything involving | | | | recycle the material, one merely has to melt it down |
| machines, fossil fuels are not far behind. Forest | | | | (thereby sterilizing it) and then form it into another |
| habitat is destroyed in the process, and surrounding | | | | shape, for instance, a new bag. Recycling of plastic |
| ecology is negatively impacted. Sources say that "in | | | | bags can take place many times before the material |
| 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 | | | | becomes too brittle to go through the process; after |
| billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that | | | | these stages of recycling, it can still take on another |
| year alone." | | | | use as a different functional product. |
| To accelerate the drying process that trees must go | | | | When plastic is burned during recycling, it can create |
| through in order to be prepared for pulp, they are | | | | dioxins and release heavy metals into the |
| stripped, chipped and "cooked" under heat with an | | | | atmosphere; the ash from burning plastic is toxic and |
| acid (composed of sulphurous acid and limestone), for | | | | needs special consideration during disposal. In landfills, |
| hours. From nearly three tons of these wood chips | | | | plastic does not break down - it always remains |
| will come one ton of pulp, which must be washed | | | | plastic, maybe just in smaller pieces that mix in with |
| and bleached, requiring large amounts of clean water. | | | | the earth. |
| Coloring is later added, after which the mixture of | | | | So Which Does Green Eggs and Planet Think Is |
| pulp and water is filtered and rolled into paper. | | | | Better? Paper or Plastic? |
| Through production, packaging and shipping, more | | | | On the plus side, both materials can be recycled, and |
| fuels and chemicals are used and further | | | | both materials have multiple uses beyond the initial |
| environmental damage is sustained. | | | | holding of the groceries. The manufacture of both |
| Paper Bags and Recycling | | | | paper and plastic bags burns through natural |
| After a paper bag is used, it will either end up in a | | | | resources, and both cause damage to the |
| landfill or it will be recycled. Eventually, after many | | | | environment during production. While paper is more |
| years, the paper bag will break down in the landfill. At | | | | recycle-able than plastic, it also results in the |
| the recycling center, through the use of chemicals to | | | | destruction of more resources through the process |
| break down the materials and clean them, the paper | | | | of paper production. I think if you are going to use |
| becomes pulp once more. Paper bags eventually | | | | paper OR plastic bags at the super market, I would |
| break down and can be composted, unless they are | | | | say to make sure you maximize the uses you get |
| covered with printing and ink. | | | | out of either, and more importantly, be sure to |
| The Saga of the Grocery Store Plastic Bag | | | | recycle. |