So Thao sent me a little link to an article about 5 little facts about Plastic bags: http://www.greendaily.com/2008/02/06/5-surprising-facts-about-plastic-bags/#comments
According to the article that it is referenced to, Plastic is better than Paper because it takes up less landfill space and it takes less energy to make.
What the article doesnt specify is what kind of paper bags they are talking about. Of course I would imagine that paper bags made from virgin wood takes an extreme amount of energy to make. I've heard some plastic fans tell me before that you have to cut down trees to make paper. Most of the paper these days, especially grocery paper bags are made from post-consumer use paper. So I find their claim that it takes less energy is not really specific enough. In addition, if you throw your paper out in the regular trash it's not going to decompose because it's sitting inside of a plastic bag. And aren't paper bags more porous than plastic - that's pretty obvious.
By arguing this I am not condoning using paper bags. I'm just saying if you have to choose between plastic and paper then I will choose paper. But most importantly, it's best to buy your own REUSEABLE bags - canvas or whatever material you choose as it is far superior and better hands down than plastic and paper bags in general.
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After this post, I'm going to be more mindful of grocery shopping with a reuseable bag. Last week, I came back from impromtu grocery shopping with four plastic bags (because they were double-bagged!) and was pissed at myself. It's hard at chains like keyfood because they're not pro-active about re-using bags like whole foods is. If only more stores were like whole foods who is going to stop using plastic bags by earth day.
Who wants an update... we do!
When do we want it... now! (or soonish)
:)
hey please erase my comment, i didnt realise my comp completed "isa" with the rest of my name. thanks!
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