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The answer to the grocery store bagger's question, "Paper or Plastic" requires an entirely more complex analysis before an answer can be given.

On a worldwide level, approximately 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are consumed each year. That works out to over one million each minute. According to the publication Modern Plastics, the people of Taiwan use 20 billion plastic bags or 900 per person, each year. Unfortunately, billions of these end up as litter. Oceans are the resting place for many of these bags and every year thousands of marine creatures, specifically turtles and whales, die from mistaking them for food.

Plastic bags do not biodegrade but are broken down by sunlight into small pieces. These small pieces end up in the soil and ocean and are ingested by the local fauna. Those bags that end up buried in a landfill intact remain that way since they are not exposed to sunlight and allowed to degrade.

Plastic bags are made from non-renewal resources petroleum and natural gas. Plastics are made from polymers; large molecules of ethylene or ethane. When these molecules are polymerized they form long chains of carbon-hydrogen bonds and become polyethylene. The practice only requires the use of electricity as it is necessary to induce the biogeochemical process. From here, three types of plastics are created: high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) or linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Examples of these include the thick heavy plastic bags are LLDPE, the bags from the grocery store are HDPE and the ones that cover your clothes from the dry-cleaner are LDPE.

Given this information then, the obvious choice should be paper. Not so fast. It takes four times the energy to make a paper bag as it does to make a plastic bag. Even though paper is a renewal resource, paper bag production uses an immense amount of trees and the production process emits toxins to the air and water. Trees help reduce the greenhouse gases, but by cutting them down to make paper pulp, the trees are no longer present to perform this air saving task.

In order to produce paper, wood chips must be heated at very high temperatures in a limestone and sulphurous acid bath for eight hours to create pulp. The pulp must then be bleached and washed which involves using thousands of gallons of water. Unfortunately this paper production makes more air and water pollution than does the production of plastic bags.

Paper bags will biodegrade in the presence of sunlight, water and oxygen. However most landfills do not allow for complete degradation to take place. Paper bags can be recycled but they are often made into cardboard, as the production of paper bags requires high quality paper. Recycling paper bags needs less energy and emits less pollution than what is necessary from virgin product. In fact, it takes 91% more energy to recycle paper bags than it does the same quantity of plastic bags.

So the decision is back to plastic then? No. In fact by providing your own reusable bags in place of paper or plastic is the best choice. Reusable bags are made from renewal resources, take very little energy to produce and can last for many years. They are very sturdy and can hold a great deal more weight than either paper or plastic. At several grocery chains, you will be given credit of $0.05-0.10 per bag when you provide your own.

Next time you are at the grocery store and the bagger asks, "Paper or Plastic?", tell him, "Neither, I have my own!"

Learn more about this author, CD Gozzi.
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