Are Paper Bags Really Better for the Environment Than Plastic Bags?

[Kamaji]

Are Paper Bags Really Better for the Environment Than Plastic Bags?

New Jersey is the first state to ban single-use bags made from both plastic and paper, but one is actually worse for the environment than the other.

RONALD BAILEY
FROM THE OCTOBER 2022 ISSUE of Reason Magazine

In May, New Jersey became the first state to ban single-use bags made from plastic or paper in large grocery stores. The new ban lumps both types of totes together, but one is actually worse for the environment than the other. Which one? Paper bags.

Surprised? Let's delve into the data underlying the case for plastic over paper.

A 2005 life-cycle analysis commissioned by the Scottish government found that manufacturing paper bags consumes 10 percent more energy than manufacturing conventional plastic bags, uses four times more water, emits more than three times the amount of greenhouse gases, generates 14 times more water pollution, and results in nearly three times more solid waste. A 2007 study commissioned by what is now the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, an industry group, found that, compared to making plastic bags, making paper bags takes 3.4 times as much energy, produces five times as much solid waste, emits twice as much greenhouse gases, and uses 17 times more water.

A 2011 study commissioned by the U.K.'s Environment Agency found that "the paper bag has to be used four or more times to reduce its global warming potential to below that of the conventional [plastic] bag." The report noted that "it is unlikely the paper bag can be regularly reused the required number of times due to its low durability." The report added that paper bags were "significantly worse" than plastic bags "for human toxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity due to the effect of paper production."

Other factors include transportation and disposal. Two thousand single-use plastic bags weigh about 30 pounds, while 2,000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds. By one estimate, it takes seven trucks to transport the same number of paper bags as one truck loaded with plastic bags. Paper bags also take up more space in landfills.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2022/09/08/paper-vs-plastic/

[Kamaji]

On the other hand, NY has banned only single-use plastic bags, and mandated the use of paper bags (with a 5 cent surcharge per bag).  Which means that NY has, in fact, mandated additional environmental damage, not environmental protection.

Go figure.

[Hoodat]

For the energy required to recycle one paper bag, 84 plastic bags can be recycled instead.

[Smokin Joe]

Those 'single use' plastic bags are commonly used to line small trash cans and pick up after pets...and a host of other uses. I don't think I have ever used one which survived bringing in the groceries just that once. I even use them to pack the goods in an old, cheap cooler for additional insulation.

[GtHawk]

Those 'single use' plastic bags are commonly used to line small trash cans and pick up after pets...and a host of other uses. I don't think I have ever used one which survived bringing in the groceries just that once. I even use them to pack the goods in an old, cheap cooler for additional insulation.

Yeah but just try putting a plastic bag full of dog doo on a porch and light it on fire, you just can't do it without an accelerant! Another piece of our childhoods stripped away by Gaia worshippers

[rustynail]

'Are Paper Bags Really Better for the Environment Than Plastic Bags?'
                                                                                                     Only if made from Old Growth forests.

[catfish1957]

First of all, somewhat of a disclaimer....   my career was mostly with industries that made the plastic products or their feedstocks.

But, and I wish i could find the studies.....

When you look a pollutant by pollutant basis, and overall impact on the front end, paper is worse for the enviornment, by nature of the losses in air, water, and waste with chlorinated phenolics that are made during manufacture.  A local stream died in the late '60's near me when a small paper mill was built, and it discharged its effluent into it.  I mean the stream was reddish brown and devoid of anything alive.  Even Fat Head Minnows.

And, if people properlly recycle their plastics, the overall impact should be pretty nuetral.  Especially with the fact that plastic manufactureres have made some decent strides in making certain applications biodegradable.

[roamer_1]

Those 'single use' plastic bags are commonly used to line small trash cans and pick up after pets...and a host of other uses. I don't think I have ever used one which survived bringing in the groceries just that once. I even use them to pack the goods in an old, cheap cooler for additional insulation.

Different strokes... I despise plastic grocery bags... Chances are, they will go right in the trash. I do keep a few around for things that need a tote that are wet.

But brown paper bags are religiously re-folded and reused - Every single thing transmitted between houses here will either be in a proper tote sack or in brown paper. And they finally find their end as ground cover beneath the compost of a bed.

plastic bags are near useless.

BTW... The OP says that brown paper bags are environmentally worse as trash - That's bullcrap.
Anything paper dissolves in no time, just covered by a bit of dirt.

[Gefn]

On the other hand, NY has banned only single-use plastic bags, and mandated the use of paper bags (with a 5 cent surcharge per bag).  Which means that NY has, in fact, mandated additional environmental damage, not environmental protection.

Go figure.

Plastic bags are now unavailable at NJ grocery stores, Mini Marts and bodegas.

I can’t begin to tell you what a cluster duck this is.

[roamer_1]

When you look a pollutant by pollutant basis, and overall impact on the front end, paper is worse for the enviornment, by nature of the losses in air, water, and waste with chlorinated phenolics that are made during manufacture.  A local stream died in the late '60's near me when a small paper mill was built, and it discharged its effluent into it.  I mean the stream was reddish brown and devoid of anything alive.  Even Fat Head Minnows.

Well sure - When EVERYBODY was just dumping their waste into creeks. It ain't like that now. And brown paper / craft paper manufacturing is substantially less reliant upon chlorine.

And, if people properlly recycle their plastics, the overall impact should be pretty nuetral.  Especially with the fact that plastic manufactureres have made some decent strides in making certain applications biodegradable.

But in fact, they don't.

Step off the trail into the deep woods, and the only trace of man you will find everywhere is those damnable plastic bags. Paper, even left on top of the ground, soon becomes part of the natural mulch process. It composts. Plastics do not. they just blow around from place to place - Modernity's tumbleweed. And even though they decay in sunlight, still they remain - Too fragile for any use, but still years away from dissolution.

[catfish1957]

Step off the trail into the deep woods, and the only trace of man you will find everywhere is those damnable plastic bags. Paper, even left on top of the ground, soon becomes part of the natural mulch process. It composts. Plastics do not. they just blow around from place to place - Modernity's tumbleweed. And even though they decay in sunlight, still they remain - Too fragile for any use, but still years away from dissolution.

That is why there is much research yet to do on bio-degraditon.

OTOH, if you want to diss plastic so badly, tell you what, I'll ask that your next hospital IV is administered with paper straws instead of plastic.

[roamer_1]

Plastic bags are now unavailable at NJ grocery stores, Mini Marts and bodegas.

I can’t begin to tell you what a cluster duck this is.

I actually LIKE reusable canvas bags... A kinda retro result that came out of the green folks trying to stop single use bags... I probably have 10 or so of them from the Rosaurs, and use them all the time if I go out to shop (not just Rosaurs). They have a place to live right in the minivan.

Granted, a bit of it is a nostalgia for me... I remember going shopping with my beloved grandmother and Auntie Ann, with them both (and my mother too)hauling around big canvas bags

They are not as durable as real canvas, to be sure, and are likely made of PVC plastics... But they ARE very durable, with reliable handles - Which is something neither paper nor plastic bags can brag.

[roamer_1]

That is why there is much research yet to do on bio-degraditon.

OTOH, if you want to diss plastic so badly, tell you what, I'll ask that your next hospital IV is administered with paper straws instead of plastic.

I am highly unlikely to receive any sort of IV. But your attempt to move the goalpost is duly noted - The subject was not plastics en-toto, but rather limited to one-use grocery type bags.

And I think that the answer will not be found in plastics. The answer will be found in glass.

[catfish1957]

. The answer will be found in glass.

That's crazy.  I don't how old you are, but my age and older had to live with the danger of cut feet from broken glass containers.
Seems you share the philosphy of a lot of greenies....   take us back to the 19th century.

[roamer_1]

That's crazy.  I don't how old you are, but my age and older had to live with the danger of cut feet from broken glass containers.
Seems you share the philosphy of a lot of greenies....   take us back to the 19th century.

Nope... Well maybe sorta - I am still very dedicated to both canvas and glass as a way of life. Not because of a philosophical alignment with greenies (I am always in opposition to bunny huggers and tree huggers), but rather where their philosophies align with mine - Which are the older and more durable beliefs.

And I don't mean glass as it is in its most natural form - Though I have absolutely nothing against it - Most of my pantry and all of my sweet tea jugs are Mason jars. The lion's share of my kitchen storage is still the same old gallon and half gallon glass jugs my mamma used. Heck, most of em came from my mamma. I have crocks that came from my great grandmother.

So I have absolutely no doubt about the durability and reuseability of glass, as it has been used for aeons. And likewise, no doubt at all of its ability to revert eventually to a natural product with no impact to the environment.

But I was speaking to ways of making glass and ceramics less brittle ... more flexible, and less weighty. I think that is where the answer lies.

[Sighlass]

Lol, things we find to argue about... I have an old metal oil funnel that is segmented to where it can bend. It ain't perfect and some oil oozes from the grooves, but works to keep the rust down. Better than both glass and plastic.

On subject, I mostly ask for plastic bags here, but some plastic bags are so flimsy that I have to double bag things. I used to like the paper bags (fire starter in the wood stove), but now I just keep all the shavings from splitting wood in big bags (reuse the huge dog food bags) to use as fire starter (nothing beats dried Oak/Hickory/Pecan chips to start a fire). 

[roamer_1]

now I just keep all the shavings from splitting wood in big bags (reuse the huge dog food bags) to use as fire starter (nothing beats dried Oak/Hickory/Pecan chips to start a fire).

I'd like to rather lose my right arm than lose the venerable tote sack/ gunny sack...
Still get at tater sacks which are burlap, but not as handy as the sacks grain used to come in.

That is one thing where i am left wanting. It is getting dang hard to find a proper tote sack.

[Fishrrman]

I bought a boxful of plastic bags on amazon and carry my own into the store.
Each one gets several uses...