| Home | Gateways | Academics | Admission | Directories | Site Index | SEARCH: |
Plastic versus paper bags
Going Green
Going Green: Plastic versus paper bags
You know, when we go to the grocery store we all face the decision, do we use plastic bags or do we use paper bags to be more environmentally friendly? As it turns out, neither is a good choice, according to Dr. Jack Manno.
"Depending on what you're looking at, essentially both of them are environmentally harmful and neither of them are necessary," said Dr. Jack Manno.
And here's how he reached that conclusion using a chart to make an environmental comparison. Plastic is better because it takes less energy and water to make the bag, since plastic weighs less than paper it's cheaper to transport and it takes up less space in a landfill. While paper is better because it will eventually biodegrade, paper is less a threat to marine life and less likely to clog drains.
So how can you make your plastic or paper bag more environmentally friendly?
"Well, the easiest thing is you can reuse them. You have five plastic bags in your house, most of us have a few hundred. They easily fit in your pocket. You don't need to buy a special bag that somebody has produced and they're selling, they're good and they're better with the fact that you can keep using them. I just tend to bring a couple of plastic bags with me," said Manno.
Some stores now offer reusable shopping bags at an affordable price, others will give you a little discount if you bring your own bag and there's even some that discourage the use of plastic bags through some negative reinforcement.
"Many places in Europe charge you, particularly for plastic. In Ireland it's five cents a bag. In Seattle there's a proposal for 20 cents per bag. It's amazing to see, even at five cents a bag people really don't use them," Manno said.
So the real key to being environmentally friendly is to reuse it, whether it's a plastic bag, whether it's a paper bag, or whether it's a cloth bag.
