| Wednesday, March 31, 2010 |
| Paper vs. Plastic? Neither! |
You're at the grocery check-out line and the cashier asks, "Paper or plastic?"
Which one is better?
The choice between paper and plastic is a false choice. Both types of bags are extremely harmful to the environment and costly to communities.
The best choice is to bring your own reusable bag!
This graphic from the Washington Post helps to explain why plastic and paper bags are both harmful. Plastic is consumed in huge quantities, and when disposed of it doesn't break down. Even "biodegradable" bags aren't exposed to the right conditions to actually make them break down properly! Though paper isn't consumed at the same rate, its production process uses more energy and pollutes more.
Unfortunately, neither plastic nor paper bags are recycled at a high rate (1-3 percent for plastic, 10-15 percent for paper). Though recycling seems like a convenient, feel-good option to using plastic and paper bags, there's really no market for recycled plastics. It's simply economically inefficient to recycle plastic and paper bags.
Check out this fact sheet from the Post after the jump:
 For more paper vs. plastic comparisons, check out these links: |
posted by Students for Responsible Bag Policy @ 11:23 AM  |
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| About Us |
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Students for Responsible Bag Policy is an independent organization founded by students at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. We seek progress on issues pertaining to single-use bag legislation in the best interest of our nation's energy, environment, and security.
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