| Plastic Bag vs. Paper Bag Facts - What is the Best? | | | | disposal methods are responsible for the release of |
| Retail shopping has grown exponentially in the last | | | | toxins into the food chain. |
| few decades since large department stores debuted. | | | | Weather also plastic carries bags far and wide. |
| With these stores and their numerous products came | | | | Glaciers and rivers also transport them to remote |
| the challenge of exactly how to safely pack the | | | | parts of the earth where they continue to wreak |
| products that the customers were buying and also | | | | havoc. Even in such places as Antarctica, plastic bags |
| how to safely ensure that the bags were | | | | can be found having travelled halfway around the |
| environment friendly. This is because at the center of | | | | world. Another malady that they cause and which is |
| the entire debate was plastic and paper bags which | | | | much closer to home is clogging of the cities' sewer |
| are used to carry the shopping from the store by | | | | systems. |
| the customer. Let us examine a few issues. | | | | In light of these developments, different nations are |
| Of concern was exactly how to dispose of the 100 | | | | taking action to limit the use of plastic bags. China has |
| billion plastic bags that are produced per year in the | | | | also taken a leading role and so has the United |
| US alone. According to the EPA, less than 2% end up | | | | States, the EU and other large industrial nations such |
| being recycled which is a major concern for | | | | as those in East Asia and South America. Since these |
| environmentalists. The bags are also of particular | | | | bags are created from oil-based products, limiting |
| danger to children since they have been cited in | | | | their use is also an energy-saving move. |
| numerous cases of accidental death by suffocation. | | | | Why plastic carrier bags became prevalent as the |
| In the US, the average household will go through | | | | carry-on of choice at supermarkets and other retail |
| over a thousand plastic and paper bags in one | | | | outlets around the world the reason is because they |
| calendar year, making it a disposal nightmare for | | | | are cheaper than paper. There was also a worldwide |
| waste management companies and entities. | | | | campaign against paper bags because they |
| One issue with plastic bags is that they do not | | | | contributed to deforestation. |
| decompose like regular bags. The material inside the | | | | With paper bags, the story has been somewhat |
| plastic breaks into smaller compounds after being | | | | different with these being cheaper than their |
| subjected to the sun's rays and when these | | | | oil-based counterparts, the plastic bags. While |
| compounds enter the food chain, they can cause | | | | nowhere as toxic as plastic, paper bags nevertheless |
| havoc to creatures that are in the lower echelons. On | | | | contributed to the destruction of over 10 million trees |
| a more realistic level, it is a known fact that most | | | | annually just to service the US market alone. A |
| mammals' digestive tracts cannot digest plastic bags. | | | | typical home goes through about 400-500 paper bags |
| Hundreds of animals such as sheep, goats and cows | | | | a year and when these are compounded across |
| are killed each year after eating plastic bags. Plastic | | | | millions of households; they too create a disposal |
| bags also release toxins into the atmosphere, the | | | | nightmare which gravely impacts the environment. |
| food system and the water system. | | | | To quell these environmental and ecosystem damage |
| In the US, there is hue and cry about regulating | | | | issues by plastic and paper bags, there is a move to |
| plastic bag use. This is not just to the danger that | | | | switch exclusively to plastic reusable bags. This |
| they cause to the ecosystem but also because | | | | means that the degree of littering is lessened |
| children have accidentally suffocated themselves | | | | considerably. This process can save hundreds of |
| using plastic bags. Plastic bag-related deaths have | | | | thousands of plastic bags ending up in landfills, rivers, |
| been on the rise ever since there was a mass switch | | | | lakes and farms and damaging the ecosystem. |
| from paper bags as the supermarket carry-on of | | | | Many people who are environment conscious are |
| choice to plastic bags. Disposing of plastic regular | | | | buying their own paper bag with which to go |
| bags is also a key debate in the US since improper | | | | shopping. |