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things do fertilize the soil, but there must be a balance of living things to keep the area non-toxic and livable for complex organisms. Have you ever put too much fertilizer in a flower-pot? Have you ever tried to grow something in all fertilizer and no soil? What happens is whatever you're trying to grow either does not grow or gets burnt out and dies very quickly, and what ends up growing (if it's natural fertilizer) is fungus and bacteria.

And let's not pretend that paper bags are environmentally friendly once they are disposed of either. Paper bags take more time to degrade than you might think. They are treated with lots of chemicals from the step in the process when the trees are ground up into pulp for making the paper, to the step where the pulp is screened and dried to form the paper, to the point when the corporate grocer's emblem and advertising literature is printed on the bag. During the pulp-making chemicals are used in conjunction with grinders to break the material down; during the screening and drying process chemicals are used to bond the paper and make it strong while allowing it to remain relatively thin; and of course ink is used during the printing.

We haven't even touched on the environmental impact of the use of all the energy it takes to make those paper bags, or to ship them by the truckload to the store where they will be used. Paper bags are truly harmful to the environment and should not be considered an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic.

If you would rather not be ripped off by corporate grocers for those tiny burlap bags they sell which are intentionally designed to hold less than the free paper and plastic alternatives, simply bring your own bags. If they won't allow you to use eco-friendly bags other than the ones they provide (which shows you where environmentally-conscious corporate policies are really rooted), simply keep your own bags back out at the car, and refuse any bags from the check-out counter at all. Bag your own groceries when you get out to the car...but make sure you have your receipts!

Learn more about this author, Matthew Tyler Funk.
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