February 14, 2023 0

The Plastic Bag Myth

A study showed that both “Compostable-plastic” and Paper bags require more materials and greater energy, per bag, in the manufacturing process than standard plastic bags.

Starting in 2002 in Ireland, a plastic bag costs 15 cents. The plastic bags given out by stores immediately decreased 93.5%.

The vast majority of plastic bags end up in landfills.
Isn’t that the ultimate in CARBON SEQUESTRATION vs chopping down trees for paper bags? — reducing the number of trees taking carbon out of the air?

The Standard PLASTIC bag:

  • Has significantly lower environmental impacts than a 30%-recycled-content-paper-bag
  • Manufactures with :
    3.4 times less energy than a Paper bag and
    1.8 times less energy than the Compostable bag.
  • Produces:
    1/6th  the SOLID WASTE ( by weight) of Paper bags and
    less than one-half that of Compostable!
  • Emits:
    half the Global Warming potential (CO2 equivalent) of Paper bags and
    1/7th   that of Compostable
    ( because it does not decompose like Paper & Compostable and Compostable emits 5 x more Carbon in production )
  • In manufacturing it uses:
    1/25th WATER than Paper and
    1/17th of Compostable!

ENGLAND 2015: Just 8 cents (5p) on a plastic bag reduced use by 85% (7 billion were used the previous year)
IRELAND: with a tax of 15c per bag, the amount is given out in stores is reduced by 93.5% – folks won’t be littering with them at that price — just putting wet trash in them — for the garbage and landfill. ( the tax is now 31c).
Carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog.
The impact of Plastic bags on litter, the latest figures, 2013, suggests there has been a 20-fold decrease since the levy was introduced in 2002.

If someone’s going to buy a bag — better it is the more environmentally friendly plastic than paper.
In the US we clearly need to tax ALL bags equally — at over 15c and ban none.  Better yet, go with a Beyond Green Bag that’s a win-win all the way across!

Source: the PLASTIC BAG MYTH

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