The paper-versus-plastic debate is an international issue. San Francisco was the first city in the country to ban plastic bags, and London may soon follow suit. Ireland charges a fee to use plastic bags, as does Denmark and Switzerland. A growing number of municipalities, like Boston, Los Angeles and Phoenix are considering bans or fees to reduce plastic bag consumption.
Why Switch to Reusable Grocery Bags?
Foreign Oil Dependency
An estimated 12 million barrels of oil are used to produce the plastic bags used in the United States annually. The average American family uses approximately 1400 plastic bags per year. These bags are typically used once, maybe twice, before being thrown in the trash.
Landfill Costs
An estimated 1-5% of the plastic bags given by grocers, department stores and restaurants are actually brought back to the store to be recycled. The majority of plastic bags end up in a landfill where they can take 500 to 1000 years to breakdown. Plastic bags have been known to clog landfill and recycling plant machinery, often times requiring hand-cleaning.
Marine Animal Endangerment
Plastic bags decompose through a process called photodegradation, which causes the bag to break down into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate water and soil. Approximately 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags each year.
Litter
Plastic bag litter is becoming commonplace, even in remote areas like Antarctica. Littered plastic bags also clog storm drains, which reduce efficiency and cost taxpayers money. City officials in San Francisco estimate that they spend $8.5 million annually to deal with plastic bag litter.
Paper is Not the Answer
In 1999 the US alone consumed 14 million trees in the form of 10 billion paper grocery bags. In addition, it takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. Trees are a major absorber of greenhouse gases, so the effect on the environment is even greater. Imagine trying to replace all of our plastic bags with paper bags…it just doesn’t work. Reusable grocery bags are the best option.
