The Environmental Impact of Plastic and Paper Bags

Plastic bag production requires petroleum (oil). Simply put, the more plastic bags we consume, the more oil we consume. Currently, billions upon billions of plastic bags are consumed every year and the number continues to grow. In turn, more and more oil is being used to produce the additional bags. This increase in production (and oil consumption) has the potential in increase our dependence on foreign oil suppliers. Additionally, drilling and exploring for the additional oil that we need can potentially destroy fragile animal habitats.

Further, paper and plastic bags must travel from their factories to the stores where we get them for "free." The daily mass transit of these bags via ground and water causes pollution. The more bags we use (and produce), the more pollution we will create in shipping them. Paper bags are worse in this regard because they are significantly heavier than plastic bags, thus requiring more energy to transport over similar distances.

I have yet to mention the pollution created in the actual production of these bags, but you can imagine that it is significant as well. Despite efforts to reduce pollution by imposing stricter standards, the simple fact is that the world continues to consume more and more bags every day. In turn, more and more bags are being produced daily which leads to more pollution on a daily basis.

Plastic bags are notorious for their slow decomposition time. It is estimated that it takes a plastic bag around 1,000 years to decompose. We have yet to actually see a plastic bag decompose, so these are just educated guesses. What most people don't realize, however, is that paper bags are not very decomposition-friendly either. Paper certainly decomposes faster than plastic, but due to the way that landfills are managed, many paper bags will sit in landfills for hundreds of years without decomposing. Why? Because landfill waste is constantly convered with fresh dirt to reduce the smell. As a result, the waste does not get enough water, oxygen, or light to decompose and simply remains buried under more and more waste and dirt. Paper bags are contributing just as much to the overfilling of our landfills.

Finally, we've all heard about the "island" of waste that is twice the size of Texas that is floating in the ocean, right? Plastic bags make up a very large portion of this island. Plastic bags are often mistaken as food by sea life, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.

So what's the solution? Say NO to paper and plastic! Start using reusable bags for your shopping and everyday needs. Reusable bags help avoid many of the problems that "disposable bags" create and they're generally easier to use and multi-functional.