Which Grocery bag consumes more energy - Plastic or Paper? Why?

the paper bages

Paper Grocery Bags Require More Energy Than Plastic Bags

= It was estimated that by the end of the year he policy of one of the European markets will have averted use of100 million new plastic grocery bags at their stores. It won't save the company any money-since the paper and multi-use bags that will replace plastic bags at their stores cost more to manufacture, stock and handle-but it is a savvy public relations move that will likely help to soothe the guilty environmental consciences of devoted Whole Foods shoppers who, like most Americans, believe paper bags are environmentally superior to plastic bags.

= Unfortunately, the reality is that paper isn't better than plastic:

-               According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in1999 the U.S. alone used10 billion paper grocery bags, which adds up to a lot of trees.

-               One hundred million new plastic grocery bags require the total energy equivalent of approximately8300 barrels of oil for extraction of the raw materials, through manufacturing, transport, use and curbside collection of the bags.

-               Of that,30 percent is oil and23 percent is natural gas actually used in the bag-the rest is fuel used along the way. That sounds like a lot until you consider that the same number of paper grocery bags use five times that much total energy. A paper grocery bag isn't just made out of trees.

-               Manufacturing100 million paper bags with one-third post-consumer recycled content requires petroleum energy inputs equivalent to approximately15,100 barrels of oil plus additional inputs from other energy sources including hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and wood waste.

=1= Making sound environmental choices is hard, especially when the product is "free," like bags at most grocery stores. When the cashier rings up a purchase and bags it in a paper bag, the consumer doesn't see that it took at least a gallon of water to produce that bag (more than20 times the amount used to make a plastic bag), that it weighed10 times more on the delivery truck and took up seven times as much space as a plastic bag in transit to the store, and will ultimately result in between tens and hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than a plastic bag.

=2= Biodegradable bags don't fare much better than paper bags; in a recent life cycle analysis, one type of compostable plastic bag was found to use somewhat less total energy and generate less solid waste, but represent more fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, and fresh water use than the comparable paper bag.

=3= Part of the invisible cost of shopping bags is passed down to consumers as retailers recoup the price they pay for the bags-pennies in the case of plastic, a nickel or a dime for paper bags (ones with handles cost more), and the same or more again for biodegradable plastic bags.

=4= Costs like greenhouse gas emissions and air or water pollution might eventually be captured in a carbon tax, cap-and-trade scheme, or regulatory fee (again, ultimately passed down to consumers, whether they are aware of it or not). Still other costs are borne by the public (e.g. litter pick-up) or in less calculable ways (e.g. diminished aesthetic values or impacts to marine animals).

=5= The good news is that, given a choice between plastic, paper and multi-use grocery bags, most people make the best available environmental choice: whichever bag they are most likely to reuse. In an informal online MSNBC survey last month,38 percent of respondents said reusability was the most important factor in choosing what type of grocery bag to use.

=6= The vast majority of people reuse "single-use" plastic bags for household tasks like bagging garbage and cleaning up messes. Ireland's plastic bag tax, initiated in2002 to combat the aesthetic impacts of litter on tourism, virtually eliminated the use of the targeted bags but also resulted in a77 percent increase in the sale of kitchen garbage bags. San Francisco's first-in-the-nation ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags last year surely has had similar rebound affects.

=7= Nationwide, the most recent Environmental Protection Agency data show recycling rates for broad categories that include paper and plastic grocery bags to be25 and9 percent, respectively. The recycling rate for plastic is growing quickly under the pressure of new mandates and markets. The actual amount recovered nationwide doubled between2005 and2006. Most of the plastic bags recycled are reclaimed for use in the United States or Canada to manufacture decking, railing and fencing which replace the use of virgin forest products.

=8= For those bags that aren't recycled, misconceptions about plastic and paper bags follow them all the way to their graves. In a landfill, paper bags, petroleum-based plastic bags and even degradable plastic bags share roughly the same fate. Modern landfills are managed for stability, not decomposition. Plastic bags can be better in a landfill because their compact size takes up the least space and, as opposed to biodegradable bags, they release zero greenhouse gas emissions.

=9= Plastic bags end up as litter that fouls the landscape, and kill thousands of marine mammals every year that mistake the floating bags for food. Plastic bags that get buried in landfills may take up to1,000 years to break down, and in the process they separate into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water. Furthermore, the production of plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil that could be used for fuel and heating.

I know that paper bages consume more deminishing resources. I also knew that plastic bage cause higher levels of polution especially if recycled. Mr. Mohammads answer is saying differently. and if that is true, then plastic bags will be more cost effective.

I feel that we need more research to come up with a better alternative!

The question is asked millions of times every day: "Paper or plastic?" Do you want your groceries in a paper bag or a plastic bag? Well, if the impact on the environment was your concern, then the answer is simple: if you have to pick one of these, pick plastic. That's because, all in all, using plastic bags impacts the environment much less than using paper ones. How do we know that? We have calculated the Composite Environment Impact Index of both, tracing every step of production, use, and disposal of the bags, and found out that paper uses more resources, and pollutes more, than plastic. Here are the calculations, click on the item name to trace the environmental impact calculations: Grocery bag, plastic Impact:6.46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grocery bag, paper Impact:77.69 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The production of paper consumes much more resources, and produces much more waste than plastic, even if the recycling is taken into account. Of course, most likely a reusable cotton bag will be better than either, but we need to calculate it's CEII to be sure.

I agree with Mr. Mohamed Sabeen

Very interesting to learn that Plastic bags are less harmful to the environment than paper bags. 

In Mauritius, the Government has imposed a plastic bag tax and encouraging the use of paper bags???

There are really good things about plastic bags—they produce less greenhouse gas, they use less water and they use far fewer chemicals compared to paper or cotton. The carbon footprint— that is, the amount of greenhouse gas that is produced during the life cycle of a plastic bag—is less than that of a paper bag or a cotton tote bag. If the most important environmental impact you wanted to alleviate was global warming, then you would go with plastic.

Whole Foods Market won't offer plastic shopping bags at their stores after Earth Day this year. It is a savvy move for the upscale natural foods retailer, who estimates that by the end of the year the policy will have averted use of100 million new plastic grocery bags at their270 stores. It won't save the company any money-since the paper and multi-use bags that will replace plastic bags at their stores cost more to manufacture, stock and handle-but it is a savvy public relations move that will likely help to soothe the guilty environmental consciences of devoted Whole Foods shoppers who, like most Americans, believe paper bags are environmentally superior to plastic bags.

Unfortunately, the reality is that paper isn't better than plastic.

One hundred million new plastic grocery bags require the total energy equivalent of approximately8300 barrels of oil for extraction of the raw materials, through manufacturing, transport, use and curbside collection of the bags. Of that,30 percent is oil and23 percent is natural gas actually used in the bag-the rest is fuel used along the way. That sounds like a lot until you consider that the same number of paper grocery bags use five times that much total energy. A paper grocery bag isn't just made out of trees. Manufacturing100 million paper bags with one-third post-consumer recycled content requires petroleum energy inputs equivalent to approximately15,100 barrels of oil plus additional inputs from other energy sources including hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and wood waste.

Making sound environmental choices is hard, especially when the product is "free," like bags at most grocery stores. When the cashier rings up a purchase and bags it in a paper bag, the consumer doesn't see that it took at least a gallon of water to produce that bag (more than20 times the amount used to make a plastic bag), that it weighed10 times more on the delivery truck and took up seven times as much space as a plastic bag in transit to the store, and will ultimately result in between tens and hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than a plastic bag.

Biodegradable bags don't fare much better than paper bags; in a recent life cycle analysis, one type of compostable plastic bag was found to use somewhat less total energy and generate less solid waste, but represent more fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, and fresh water use than the comparable paper bag.

Part of the invisible cost of shopping bags is passed down to consumers as retailers recoup the price they pay for the bags-pennies in the case of plastic, a nickel or a dime for paper bags (ones with handles cost more), and the same or more again for biodegradable plastic bags. Costs like greenhouse gas emissions and air or water pollution might eventually be captured in a carbon tax, cap-and-trade scheme, or regulatory fee (again, ultimately passed down to consumers, whether they are aware of it or not). Still other costs are borne by the public (e.g. litter pick-up) or in less calculable ways (e.g. diminished aesthetic values or impacts to marine animals).

The good news is that, given a choice between plastic, paper and multi-use grocery bags, most people make the best available environmental choice: whichever bag they are most likely to reuse. In an informal online MSNBC survey last month,38 percent of respondents said reusability was the most important factor in choosing what type of grocery bag to use. The plurality,41 percent, choose plastic. Twenty-eight percent reported that environmental concerns were their top consideration and-unfortunately, given the comparative life cycle analyses-56 percent believed that paper is more "environmentally friendly."

The vast majority of people reuse "single-use" plastic bags for household tasks like bagging garbage and cleaning up messes. Ireland's plastic bag tax, initiated in2002 to combat the aesthetic impacts of litter on tourism, virtually eliminated the use of the targeted bags but also resulted in a77 percent increase in the sale of kitchen garbage bags. San Francisco's first-in-the-nation ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags last year surely has had similar rebound affects.

Nationwide, the most recent Environmental Protection Agency data show recycling rates for broad categories that include paper and plastic grocery bags to be25 and9 percent, respectively. The recycling rate for plastic is growing quickly under the pressure of new mandates and markets. The actual amount recovered nationwide doubled between2005 and2006. Most of the plastic bags recycled are reclaimed for use in the United States or Canada to manufacture decking, railing and fencing which replace the use of virgin forest products.

For those bags that aren't recycled, misconceptions about plastic and paper bags follow them all the way to their graves. In a landfill, paper bags, petroleum-based plastic bags and even degradable plastic bags share roughly the same fate. Modern landfills are managed for stability, not decomposition. Plastic bags can be better in a landfill because their compact size takes up the least space and, as opposed to biodegradable bags, they release zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Reusable shopping bags may be the norm at Whole Foods a year from now, but they're not for everyone in every circumstance. A multi-use plastic or durable bag is environmentally and economically cost-effective only if it is actually used multiple times. Some of these bags are recyclable or compostable, others are not. The basic principles of conservation apply here: the greenest individual choice is the one that results in the greatest actual reduction, reuse and recycling.

Less than a year after a law requiring grocery stores to accept plastic bags for recycling took effect, lawmakers in California are now proposing mandatory reductions in plastic bag use and up to a25-cent charge for plastic grocery bags statewide.

Those who are cognizant of the environmental realities of the paper versus plastic debate, but nevertheless believe providing complimentary plastic bags at grocery stores should be illegal, cling optimistically to the idea that plastic grocery bags can be erased from the environmental equation without unintended consequences. At present, the only honest assessment is that a plastic bag ban is a de facto paper bag mandate, and increased use of paper bags means an increase in environmental ills including air and water pollution, greater energy and water use and higher greenhouse gas emissions.

In a sense, the persistent view of plastic bag use as emblematic of the nation's progress on environmental issues is right for the wrong reasons. It shows how far good intentions coupled with bad information can lead us astray.

Paper, I think so

Paper Bags account for more energy wastage than Plastic Bags.  Not to be too technical: studies show that paper bags consume more non-renewable primary energy and water, contribute more to toxic emissions than plastic bags and is more difficult municipal solid waste than in kgs.

paper... but