Eco facts: Why not use paper bags?

Why not use Paper bags..?

Many shops use paper bags as opposed to plastic, and believe that they are already have a clear eco-conscience.

Unfortunately they could not be further from the truth.

Studies in America, by the “Society of Plastics Industry”, show that manufacturing a paper shopping bag uses more than four times the amount of energy as is used in the manufacture of plastic bags and when it comes to recycling, it takes nearly 100 times the energy to recycle paper as it does plastic. So it’s pretty clear that paper bags are not energy efficient.

However it doesn’t stop there, most paper comes from tree pulp and most of it still ends up in landfill, where because of the lack of oxygen it takes decades to decay and all of the many chemicals used in it’s manufacture leach out into the water table.
Millions of trees are cut down every year just to produce paper, trees that would otherwise be soaking up the Carbon Dioxide that we are emitting, from making and recycling Paper bags… there is something wrong with this equation. (see also http://ilea.org/lcas/franklin1990.html)

Wouldn’t it be simpler to buy an attractive and durable fabric bag and use it again and again?

… or bio-degradable plastics?

Up until recently, biodegradable plastic bags have all been made from polymers that have been engineered to break down faster under UV and water exposure. This is a very laudable effort to make but they are still using oil based ingredients which are unsustainable and the bags are still only used once and thrown away, then since they take over a year to break down, they still end up polluting our landfill sites or littering the land and sea. These bags are still being produced…

More recent advances have given us bags made from Cornstarch which are fully bio-degradable, this is progress but at what cost? The bags are still used only once and the energy required to manufacture and distribute the bags is similar to that required for any regular plastic bag. Plus they must then be differentiated from regular plastic bags as they must be composted and cannot be recycled in the same way.

We believe that the future does hold a place for these Cornstarch bags, after all you don’t want to put your fresh fish straight into your cotton carrier bag. However in the vast majority of cases you are better served by a stylish and convenient fabric bag that won’t rip when you put a bottle of wine or a pineapple into it.

Ecosheek bags might cost a little more up front but look at what you are really saving.

(and did you really think that plastic bags were free anyway? Retailers pass the cost of their bags onto the consumer one way or another.)

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