Paper vs. Plastic: Which Bag is More Sustainable?

Most of the world has reverted to using paper bags as an eco-friendlier alternative to plastic bags. Recently, many places have either banned the use of plastic bags or added a tax to their usage; It’s interesting because plastic bags were initially created in 1965 to save the planet from the usage of paper bags. The initial reasoning behind this was that plastic bags are more reusable, and they don’t require deforestation. It seems we as a society rotates through periods of using whichever we think are the lesser of two evils.

Myth: Paper Bags Are Greener Than Plastic. Source: https://ecomyths.org/myth-paper-bags-are-greener-than-plastic/

Paper bags

The biggest selling point for paper bags is that they are biodegradable and break down easily. This is great for the environment because it won’t harm wildlife or remain in landfills. However, there is a lot of environmental turmoil in the making of paper bags. Producing paper bags requires four times as much energy and uses chemicals and fertilizers. In addition, lots of water is needed in its production. Analysts suggest that paper is liable for 70 times more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than plastic bags. Moreover, paper bags are the product of millions of trees being cut which is not great for the environment. It is also reported that one would need to reuse a paper bag 3-43 times to neutralize the environmental impact it took to create the bag. However, this is not plausible for most cases because paper bags break down so easily. Therefore, paper bags are often single-use.

Source: https://www.eastmojo.com/world/2021/07/12/world-paper-bag-day-2021-its-never-too-late-to-switch-from-plastic-to-paper/

Plastic bags

Plastic bags are created from high-density polyethylene which is made from petroleum. It’s the same material that is used to make shampoo bottles, milk jugs, etc. It was initially thought of to be more sustainable than paper bags because it’s sturdier and can be used multiple times. Furthermore, it requires fewer carbon emissions. Plastic bags are also recyclable they often fly away or get stuck in machines, so they rarely do get recycled. The idea of plastic saving the planet didn’t come to fruition though. As they are very hard to break down and stay in landfills and oceans. This is problematic for wildlife. In addition, these bags break down into micro-plastics and spread out. However, the effects of micro-plastics are still not known.

What can be done?

It’s not quite clear whether plastic bags or paper bags are better for the environment because they both have their advantages and disadvantages. The biggest difference consumers can do to help the environment is to reuse bags as much as they can. Re-using bags found at home is the key to reducing the impact. As for the future, I predict that we will transition back to using plastic bags because people will say that paper bags cause deforestation. However, I do think that re-usable cloth bags will be more common because it’s more advertised. Perhaps, someone might even come up with a new type of bag as an alternative.

–  Shilpa Shrestha