Are Paper Bags better than Plastic Bags?

Hi Guys,

A few days back I was watching a TED Talk by Leyla Acaraglu on the topic ‘Paper beats Plastic? How to rethink Environmental Folklore’. I knew some of the disadvantages of paper (a few years back I had written as to why Plastic cups are better than Paper cups?), but I never thought that Paper bags are as environmentally dangerous as Plastic Bags.

There is this trend across the world of throwing out Plastic bags and embracing Paper Bags. In the big retails outlets in India, you are charged some money for being provided with a Plastic Bag, but then the outlet can provide a Paper Bag for free (though not many do as it means more costs). If you carry a paper bag with you, you are seen as an environmental friendly person and you become a nature lover. And all environmental enthusiasts back this idea and encourage Paper Bags.

What are the disadvantages that Paper Bags Possess?

To begin with, Papers are not manufactured from a healthy source. They are made from trees. The process of manufacturing paper involves lot of machinery and a huge amount of clean water. 35% of deforestation in past 40 years is for the purpose of manufacturing paper. On one side of the equation, environmentalists’ advice Reforestation and on the other side they encourage Paper. Trees are the main source of absorbing Carbon Dioxide and providing Oxygen apart from other numerous purposes.

Are Paper Bags really good?
Photo Source: Wiki Commons

Paper requires nearly four times more energy than Plastic to be produced. Paper Production emits more ‘green house’ gases than plastic production (around 70% more) and causes more water pollution (around 50%).

The most common reasoning done by the paper supporters is based on weight. They say a kilogram of paper is much better than a kilogram of plastic. But as Leyla Acaraglu points out in her talk, it is not an Apple to Apple comparison. You need to look at the functionality. Anyone who has used both would know that paper bags weigh more than plastic bags to the tune of at least four times for carrying similar weight. So at the end of the day, if you tend to use Paper Bags, you use more paper than corresponding plastic bags.

When it comes to Biodegradation, Papers are said to be better. Papers are actually better. But only if they are made into a Compost. For that purpose, the paper should be less inked and should be like how it was produced. Most bags we buy has inks printed onto it and it doesn’t become suitable for a fertilizer. Most of papers end up in landfills and it takes a lot of years of biodegrade. Papers ending up in landfills produce more Methane than plastic and hence more ‘green house’ gases.

In terms of Recycling, it is found that Paper consumes 90% more energy than Plastic to be recycled. The paper has to be made into pulp again and it is possible only with less inked paper. Most plastics can be recycled though to a lower quality (technically they are downcylced).

The main disadvantage of plastic bags lies in the fact that they are littered around and lot of wild life end up dying after eating them. Apart from this fact, paper bags don’t have much of an advantage over plastic bags.

So, if you are a person concerned about Environment, it is better to leave Paper Bags. The better solution lies in reusing bags without getting them each time. Also, cloth bags could become a real alternative. It is always important to consider the other end of the spectrum.

Happy Reading!

Sources

• http://www.treehugger.com/culture/paper-bags-or-plastic-bags-everything-you-need-to-know.html
• http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/paper-plastic.htm
• http://www.ted.com/talks/leyla_acaroglu_paper_beats_plastic_how_to_rethink_environmental_folklore

Plastic Waste - Issues and Solutions

Hi Guys,

Plastic has been one of the greatest inventions of all time. Plastics have been used in various places and their properties have made plastics a great object. But, the fact that plastics are non biodegradable in nature and there is a lot of plastic waste out there in the world makes things looks bad.

One of the things that have become unavoidable in our life is the use of Polythene covers. The fact that it is cheap and thick enough to store things makes it favourable for people to use it. Whenever we go out to buy something, we expect the shopkeeper to give the things in a Polythene cover. Even though we can carry an alternative carry bag in most of the occasions, we do not do it. Apart from the Polythene covers there are various disposable plastic materials like Straws, bottles, cups, etc.

These disposable plastics when dumped in Earth take 1000 years to degrade. Sometimes they are put in landfills and some microbes that speed up the degradation are also added. This process speeds up the degradation process, but it also releases harmful Methane gas in the air.

These polythene covers occupying the landfills block the penetration of water and the water table levels go down. It also becomes a big trouble, when animals eat these plastic materials without realizing. There have been so many cases in India where dogs, cows and even Elephants die due to the Polythene covers blocking their digestive tract. So far 260 Species in the world has been affected by consumption of Plastic.

Marine Debris has been yet another problem where all these plastic materials travel in the Ocean and occupying some low lying coast or Island. Midway Atoll has been an extraordinary case of these where so many plastic items have been washed ashore. The birds that are inhabited in the Island consume these plastics and they end up dying. Just go to Youtube and search about Midway Islands and you will get lot of videos about this issue.

So, what can be done about this? A few days ago, I visited a village nearby my college. There was a cottage industry that used Polythene Covers to produce fashion goods and accessories. They got waste polythene covers from nearby places. After cleaning it up with detergents, they cut the covers into long strips that act like threads. They are used along with Cotton to produce a stiff material. These stiff materials are later cut and converted into many accessories like Bags, Pouches, Files, Flower Vases and so on. They are able to produce designs by making use of the different colored polythene covers. The plan looked so good and the end product was just great. The cost of products ranged from Rs. 40 to Rs. 300 and was very much comparable to the outside products. The quality and strength of the products were good too. The biggest problem was that they were not able to keep outlets and the scale of production was too low.

Products that are being made out of Recycled plastic in the industry. Photo Credits: Ankur Baj

These type of industries can be found and encouraged by Government. Certainly there will be many buyers for these products as they are as good as normal products and they are made from Recycled plastics too. But sadly the awareness about these type of industries and products are low. They are an efficient way of tackling the issue and creating employment too.

Apart from this, as normal people we can take some steps in our day today life to prevent plastic pollution.

• Reduce the use of Polythene covers as much as possible. I have seen people getting polythene covers from shops just because it is provided by the shop.
• Many people throw of plastic materials after use. For example, throwing chocolate wrappers after eating the chocolate. Instead of throwing it on the road and creating unnecessary problem, we can put in a trash bin and let the government act on it.
• Knowing when to replace certain things can do wonders. Instead of buying a new pen, we can buy a new Refill which is available at a lower price.
• We can buy products that are made out of Recyclable materials and buy them. We can provide recyclable vendors to Plastic collectors instead of throwing into Garbage bin.

Plastic collection has become a big problem to the Ecology and it is high time that we do something to the issue to let the environment perform well.

Happy Reading!!!

P.S: 

This post is written for Indiblogger’siDiya for Indichange contest conducted in association with ISB. The link to the competitions page is http://www.isb.edu/idiya/