Reusable Plastic Bags Vs Single Use

But the law favors paper.

Reusable plastic bags vs single use.

Paper bags can be used instead of single use plastic bags or reusable plastic bags. Some estimates suggest that purchasing a single set of reusable shopping bags and using them every time you go shopping could eliminate the disposal of as many as 20 000 disposable plastic bags. As we previously touched on with our plastic straws blog post there s a lot of attention being paid these days to single use plastic items like straws many kinds of product packaging and plastic bags. In massachusetts there is an attempt by the state legislature to reduce the use of both plastic and paper bags.

The basics of comparing disposable bags vs reusable bags before answering any questions it s important to understand why this is even a debate. Oregon also has suspended its brand new ban on plastic bags. Even then some experts question if single use bags are always worse than reusable bags. Found that to have lower global warming potential than single use plastic bags.

But that s only the beginning. The effects that these bags have on the environment are important concerns for society of today. Reputation aside single use plastic bags have the smallest carbon footprint at least in terms of single bag production. How we use and dispose of bags matters even more.

Varying opinions on whether single use plastic bags are worse or better for the environment than reusable alternatives stem from unfair comparisons. Plastic bags are cheap and convenient but they re a scourge on the planet. We know that single use anything is a terrible idea whether it is plastic or not so replacing plastic bags with paper ones will surely have deleterious side effects like increasing deforestation. There are three main types of reusable bags on the market.

Reusable bags made from nonwoven polypropylene plastic are also common and they re actually less carbon intensive to produce. Polypropylene bags most of the green reusable bags found at supermarkets should be used 37 times. These items are considered wasteful because they are meant to be used once and discarded. And it turns out that certain kinds of reusable bags have a massive environmental footprint too.

Paper is not a great choice either especially if you re going to throw it out after a single use. Canvas polyester and polypropylene bags.