Plastic or paper?
Given our recent posts on the regulation of plastic bags in Ireland, Santa Monica and China, we thought we’d take a quick look at some of the factual differences between plastic and paper bags. Like many green alternatives, the benefits of switching from plastic to paper are not so black-and-white. (Granted Santa Monica proposes to ban plastic and also tax paper.)
Apparently, paper bags that are not made out of recycled material result in 70% more air pollution and 50% more water pollution than the production of plastic bags. Additionally, one pound of plastic can be recycled with 91% less energy than it takes to recycle the equivalent amount of paper. The one clear disadvantage of plastic is that, unlike paper, it is not biodegradable.
[Update: One of our readers noted that the picture above says "I am biodegradable" on the plastic bag, but that we claim that plastic is not biodegradable in this post. According to this link, plastic bags do not biodegrade in any reasonable timeframe, but can photodegrade when exposed to sunlight (which of course is unlikely in a landfill). Therefore, the only way the manufacturer of the bag in the photo above could reasonably claim to be biodegradable would be if the bag was not actually made of polyethylene (the standard process), in which case it would probably not be called a "plastic" bag.]
While we are not climatologists, it appears that if the above data comparing plastic to paper bags is correct, plastic may actually pose less of a greenhouse threat than paper bags. Of course excess garbage from non-biodegradable bags is an environmental issue, but likely pales in comparison to the threat from climate change. This is one reason why we’re skeptical about the value of government dictating that a specific product like plastic bags be banned outright. If the goal of the regulation is to decrease the effects of plastic bags on climate change, than the effort may actually be counterproductive, as is the case with ethanol.
The best solution is probably to encourage consumers to use whichever bag they are more likely to re-use. Unlike an outright ban on plastic only, a fee on both plastic and paper bags would encourage consumers to use whichever type they would be more likely to re-use, and consequently would have the best end effect on the environment.
Of course, the use of reusable cloth bags would have the best effect on the environment, but given the realities of daily life, it is unrealistic to imagine this being a practical solution for everyone. Instead, a tax on both paper and plastic would create the biggest incentive to use cloth bags, but in the alternative, to decide between paper or plastic based on the likelihood that consumer would be to re-use it.
- Similar Posts:
- Chinese ban on certain plastic bags begins to take effect.
- Plastic bags to be banned in Santa Monica.
- 16 year old boy figures out how to biodegrade plastic bags
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