Time to Bag the Bags?
Paper or plastic - which is better? According to an article published in the current issue of our in-store Natural and Organic Magazine, author Lisa Murray says the best option is neither. The way to go greener, she says, is to use and re-use cloth or canvas bags, like those offered at our checkouts. She notes that plastic bags aren't biodegradable and remain intact for thousands of years in a landfill. Of the roughly 500 billion to a trillion plastic bags used worldwide each year, the United States uses 100 billion plastic bagsÑthe fossil fuel equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil, she says, adding that in some areas of the ocean, plastic bag fragments greatly outweigh plankton.
Likewise, making paper bags destroys trees and requires chemicals, fossil fuels and contributes to air pollution. While paper bags can be made from 100 percent recycled content and are considered CO2 neutral, Murray argues that their production uses more energy than plastic and pollutes water and air. Reusable cloth or canvas bags. In contrast, the average reusable-bag consumer uses only four bags per year and a reusable bag requires only a bit more energy to produce than one disposable bag. And one reusable bag can hold more than three times the amount of groceries than a plastic bag, she adds.