Talking About Green

When we get our groceries, it is often times so easy to automatically grab for the plastic bags or, perhaps, grab the paper bags because you think you’re doing your part environmentally. However, what is interesting, despite the fact people often times think the opposite, is that paper might not be all that environmentally friendly. However, before getting to that, it is important to understand where each bag comes from.

The Life Cycle of a Paper Bag?

The first step to getting a paper bag is to cut down trees…Lots of trees. Naturally, clear cutting takes place with the hope of cutting down as many trees as possible. This results in long-term damage to the ecology of the region and natural habitats. Removing even a small area of trees can have a big impact and these logging operations require more than just a small area.

The trees are then dried for three years. The trees are stripped of their barked and then chipped into small, one-inch pieces. These pieces are cooked with a tremendous amount of pressure and heat before an acid and limestone mixture is added. After quite a few hours of all this cooking, the wood comes out as a substance called pulp. Three tons of the wood chips makes one ton of pulp. Too bad for those trees.

This chemically soaked pulp is then washed with water and then bleached. This requires thousands of gallons of clean water. It takes a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water for paper to be successfully made. The pulp/water is dumped on top of bronze wires where the water rushes through, leaving the pulp. That is then rolled into paper.

So, now you’ve used the paper bag. And you’re ready to get rid of it.

If the paper bag has very little ink on it, it can be composted which is the ideal situation. This results in the paper turning into a rich soil nutrient. This takes place over a period of a few months. If you opt to throw them away, the same thing will occur; however, it takes quite a bit of time. So, they do break down, but without all of the extra nutrients like in compost.

The third option is for the paper to be recycled. For this to occur, it has to be re-pulped. The fibers are cleaned and everything that might make the paper looked flawed is washed. It is then processed a second time and rolled into paper. More paper bags are now on the way.

During all of this, it is important to note that there are other external resources used such as electricity and gasoline and other things. Therefore, it’s not just the actual paper that requires resources, but all of the services that lead to it becoming paper.

The Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag

Plastic bags are made by using the by-product of the oil-refining process. Plastic bags account for roughly four percent of oil product. For the most part, the energy input for plastic bags comes from electricity which, in the US, comes from coil burning. The oil is heated up to 750 degrees so that it separates into its different types of polymers. Polythylene is then extracted so that it can be used to make the plastic bag.

Recyclying plastic bags, though, isn’t as advantageous. According to the EPA, it takes two-thirds of the energy to make a new bag from recycled plastic than when making new bags. However, the problem is that, when you heat the plastic bag, it breaks the polymer chains. This results in a weaker plastic bag. The plastic bag loses its value this way. Because of that, there is less chance of recycling plastic bags.

Paper or Plastic?

It requires significant more energy to create a paper bag than it does to create a plastic bag. Even with the ability to recycle paper bags and not plastic bags, it still takes more energy to make paper bags than plastic bags and therefore, it is often times a better choice to go with the plastic bag. Besides, you can often times find uses for them around the house such as when you go out with your dog. Using the same bag more than once means that it was an even better investment. On top of that, many supermarkets do offer to buy back your plastic bags for five cents sometimes.

However, if you really want to be environmentally sound, I would suggest neither paper or plastic. Instead, invest in those reusable bags. They cost you money, but you will continue to use them for years and that, in my opinion, is better than using any plastic or paper bag.