Facts About Paper Bags

Paper bags remain an option in grocery stores and are preferred by many consumers for convenience; some people assume they are less damaging to the environment than plastic bags. The production of paper bags is, however, harmful to the environment in several ways. There are many identifiable pros and cons for the consumption, production and disposal of paper bags.

Paper Bag Consumption
Ten billion paper bags are used annually in the United States alone. It takes 14 million trees to meet this demand. Many consumers prefer paper bags because they hold more than plastic bags and are sturdier, but stores mostly prefer to give out plastic bags because they are cheaper than paper.

Paper Bag Production
Paper bags are mostly made from virgin tree pulp because recycled pulp is not as strong, so their production inevitably begins with chopping down trees. Paper bag production is damaging to the environment in two ways: chopping down trees reduces the absorption of greenhouse gases, and the manufacture of the bags requires use of toxic chemicals that contribute to air and water pollution. Additionally, the transportation of paper bags, which are relatively bulky and heavy, requires the consumption of petroleum, a non-renewable fossil fuel that causes further air pollution.

Paper Bag Disposal
A paper bag that ends up as litter will degrade in 10 months; however, in a landfill, it will not degrade for hundreds of years. Paper bags that are printed with vegetable-based dyes can be composted to provide a useful garden fertilizer. Paper bags can be reused as trash bags in the household and reused for groceries several times.

Paper Bag Recycling
Less than 15 percent of paper bags in the United States are recycled. Paper can only be recycled four to six times, and recycled paper is usually mixed with virgin tree pulp for strength, so recycled paper bags are rarely made from 100 percent recycled materials.

Paper vs Plastic
The manufacturing process for a paper bag requires four times as much energy as the manufacturing process for a plastic bag. The production of paper bags creates 50 times more water pollutants than the production of plastic bags and 70 percent more air pollutants. Additionally, it requires 98 percent more energy to recycle paper bags than it does to recycle plastic bags, but the recycling rate for paper is higher.

I can’t work out what you’re attempting to sell. Can you be more specific?

All those words, yet so little point

Best first post ever?

All those words, yet so little point

Critisism or praise?

Epic stuff.

Going to open a “What tyres?” thread on http://www.paperbagworld.com.

Lol @ HTS

Show us yer bags!

My fleet.

Mostly Tesco, but there is a rather nice M&S job from Christmas last year and some ghetto-niche stuff from Quality Save.

Loving this thread

HtS – cool idea keeping the plastic bags next to the small kids toys… they can use them for spacemen’s helmets and hats! Mind if I nick this idea?

A beach yesterday with some plastic bags:

Ok I must be weird but I have often wondered why the UK uses plastic bags and the US paper, and why in these eco times we dont use more paper bags.

Paper bags rock!

There is nothing quite as satisfying* than blowing up a paper bag then bursting it near unsuspecting people!

* OK, that’s a lie, there’s load of things just as satisfying, if not more so

Loving this thread

HtS – cool idea keeping the plastic bags next to the small kids toys… they can use them for spacemen’s helmets and hats! Mind if I nick this idea?

Secure lid removed (with some difficulty) for photo purposes. We also have lots of sharp knives but they are kept in a drawer and some power tools, but they are under the stairs in a big box. 🙄

No kids were harmed during the making of this piss take.

What about those thicker bags that you take to the supermarket that you can use again and again and again?

What about those thicker bags that you forget to take to the supermarket that you can use again and again and again?

FTFY

I store plastic bags in a paper bag. I’m confused.

That’s how Bags For Life work. They last forever by nature of living out their existence in a cupboard several miles from the nearest shop.

Bizarre, and also boll*cks.

Pretty much every paper bag I’ve seen from a supermarket recently has been 100% or near recycled. Trees are a sustainable resource – we just plant more. Creation of the paper bag doesn’t involve quite as many unpleasant chemicals I don’t think, and they biodegrade.

Methinks that the OP’s text comes from a plastic bag manufacturer.

I do that with my kid all the time. Oh how they shout and run about.

Makes me laugh.

Methinks that the OP’s text comes from a plastic bag manufacturer.

… in the US.

What about those thicker bags that you forget to take to the supermarket that you can use again and again and again?
FTFY

simple.

1> if you do your shopping by driving to the shops, then keep your bags in the boot of the car

2> if you walk or cyle to the shops then take a rucksack (and leave extra bags in the bottom if needs be)

Today, I am mostly rocking it large stylee with a Waitrose bag for life.

1> if you do your shopping by driving to the shops, then keep your bags in the boot of the car

This falls down in transporting the shopping from the car to the house. They’re emptied and stored in the cupboard of shite.

They’re emptied and stored in the cupboard of shite.

Ours are hung neatly in the garage. Which amounts to the same thing but bigger.

Two words: witchs’ knickers.

With the demise of the paper bag it’s getting that you can’t even have a panic attack these days 😕