It’s the wrong question. They both suck. Manufacturing plastic bags takes 40% less energy and results in less air and water pollution and less logging than paper. Both are recyclable. However, recycling is an energy intensive process, and only about 10-15% of paper bags and 1-2% of plastic bags actually get recycled. Since they tend to fly away with a little wind, a significant quantity of plastic bags are floating in the Pacific Gyre, a huge toilet bowl of plastic trash north of Hawaii where the ocean currents eventually take unwanted things that float.
The Answer
- Stop buying so much.
- Use your own canvas bags (organic cotton).
- Include the real cost to society in the monetary price of each choice. Ireland levied a bag tax to raise the price of plastic bags to 20 cents each, and the quantity used dropped 90%.
- Tell store managers that you want them to use biodegradable bags made of corn starch. They cost 6 cents, the same as a paper bag. Plastic bags only cost 1-2 cents, so stores aren’t going to use them until their customers show them it’s to their advantage.
If you’re in need of a New Year’s resolution, swearing off paper and plastic seems like a good one.
Now that we’ve got that sorted, let’s move on to bigger questions - like real or fake Christmas trees (they both suck too, but if your primitive religion requires the sacrifice of a conifer to your god for the winter solstice, real trees are better).
