Friday 25 November 2011

BAG FOR LIFE OR BEG FOR LIFE




I'm someone who believes the only way to see a movie is in a big theater, on a big screen, with a big bag of popcorn. Yes I am a paper bag. With the growing complains of the environmental pollution now there seems a need to replace the plastic bags with the paper bags.  Paper recycling is the process of recovering waste paper and remaking it into new paper.

The "paper or plastic" conundrum that vexed earnest shoppers throughout the 1980s and 90s is largely moot today. Most grocery store baggers don't bother to ask anymore. Plastic bags are so cheap to produce, sturdy, plentiful, easy to carry and store that they have captured at least 80 percent of the grocery and convenience store market since they were introduced a quarter century ago. Paper bags or plastic bags, it seems like it should be an easy choice, but there are an incredible number of details and inputs hidden in each bag. From durability and reusability to life cycle costs, there's a lot more to each bag than meet the eye.

Paper comes from trees, and the pulpwood tree industry is large. It begins with logging, where select trees are found, marked, and felled. This process creates a tremendous scar in the forests natural habitat(s), for both plant and animal. It can take over a century for nature to recover from even a small logging operation. But the positive point of paper bags is they can be recycled again after using once. While in case of plastic bags, they are not biodegradable. 

Being reusable means less waste of natural resources like oil and less carbon dioxide emissions that are produced during their manufacture. Plastic bags do not decompose. The sun photo degrades the bags, meaning that over time, the sun breaks down the plastic into smaller and smaller pieces. This actually is not good as the small particles can enter the food chain, particularly when the bags litter the sea and are accidently mistaken for food by wild life. People generally throw paper bags on the road side or is used in recycling. If it goes to the land, it will be easily decayed. Whereas plastic bags take 100’s of years to decay. Actually only 3% of overall plastic bags all over world are really plastic. If made a comparison plastic bags cause more harm to the environment then paper bags do.

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