[OT] Paper bags carbon footprint too high

Energy to cut it, plant it, pulp it, bleach it, make it into paper, dry it, machine it, deliver it, etc. Just because it grows doesn't make it green.

It doesn't choke on reusable bags either.

Compared to plastic?

No?

been long debated in the US where a grocery shopper is often asked "paper or plastic" (for your grocery sack, rather than as a means of paying)

Some comparisons here which may shed some light

Plastic bags are a lot cheaper and as energy is the biggest cost plastic bags probably use less of it.

Where does that mention reusable bags?

In message , Chris B writes

My not-too-local chip shop has free plastic bags, but says I shouldn't use them because they ruin the culinary delight that I am about to experience, My response is that I will experience something far worse if swmbo discovers her car seat has a dressing of chip fat.

I asked why they didn't use paper bags. I had a lecture on the high price to them of paper bags compared with plastic.

what's wrong with newspaper? That's the authentic wrapping

ISTR that it was stopped for hygiene reasons and antimony in the ink. Mind, I never heard os anyone suffering ill health because of it .

That is very interesting, but seems to overlook 2 things:

It does mention a ratio of 7:9 for energy to create a plastic vs paper bag either from recycled or virgin sources, but I don't think that is a clear winner once factored in with the damage waste plastic does when it gets dumped.

It's good though to have the numbers - I think I'll email that particular retail chain and challenge them to think beyond the simple mantra of "carbon footprint".

Cheers :)

Don't see why. Historically in my experience it was only the outer sheets that were newspaper.

However given the production of paper for other uses, I'd still have thought it a better bet than plastic, which as I understand it is now inside even the most remotely living organisms from the deep trenches of our oceans. Brian

just because a bag IS reusable doesn't mean that it gets reused

tim

Paper is preferable as paper degrade naturally where plastic is forever

Why did they have to make the regulations so bloody complicated. In ireland there is a plastic bag tax which everybody( essentially) has to pay. Peopl e adapted to it quite easily and most gladly carry re-usable bags for their grocery shopping and the number of plastic bags in the hedgerows has been vastly reduced as has been the waste.

Not necessarily, we used to store Christmas decorations in our loft in supermarket carrier bags. A number of them just spontaneously disintegrated.

In general though, I agree and I've already seen a large reduction in carrier bags on the beach locally.

Tim

Tim Watts scribbled

Paper weighs more. Increased transport costs, etc.

What I object to is people who, in rural areas put their dog s*it in plastic bags and then hang it on a branch. If they just left the stuff on the ground, mother nature would have a much easier job of getting rid of it.

There's the problem - the bags *disintegrate* into fibres, but those take a very long time to decompose. Now those fibres are sloshing around the oceans getting into everything.

It helps if the other bags cost more, which is the reasoning behind the charge. Its there to reduce the litter problem rather than the CO2 "problem".

That's because they have been biodegradable for years. They just don't degrade as fast as paper bags do.