Paper or Plastic?

Before reading the article... please reply to whether you choose paper, or plastic, when going to the grocery store. Then provide the reason why you make that decision?

Then read this:
www.washingtonpost.com...

No choice here, so it is plastic.

I did see an interesting new deal called Spudware, I believe,

It looks like plastic, they make plates, cups containers etc.

Made from plant fibers if I remember correctly.

Seems like a great step in the right direction.

The Philadelphia Eagles stadium uses this new stuff

It breaks down in about 45 days at the landfill

Hopefully they can make grocery bags out of that stuff.

I purchased 10 cotton-canvas totes from the hobby store for $3.99 each a few years back. Each holds about 6 half gallons of milk. We take them with us whenever we go shopping, regardless of the store.... grocery, hardware, clothing, etc.

I absolutely deny plastic bags wherever I shop. If you have ever owned prestine rural land, where those that came before you were dumping their garbage off in the back corner, you will learn first hand the evils of sun-brittled plastic bag pieces in the environment. ...and don't forget the 10 million square mile Pacific GYRE

Occassionally, I do take advantage of paper bags but I reuse them for household trash bags or for fire starting; we cook rice and beans outdoors on wood every day.

No choice here, so it is plastic.

EVERY MAN is morally responsible for his own actions. When you believe you have no choice you are only succumbing to the "convenient" due to your own laziness and failure to "create" options for yourself. When you fail to make a choice, others will undoubtably make a choice for you, and in a capitalistic society... they'll choose plastice because it is profitable for them. You can ALWAYS say, "NO BAG PLEASE" and push your cart off to your vehicle and load your items one at a time.

Mathew 7:7 Seek (cheap durabable canvas totes) and ye shall find, ask and it will be given to you.

I am,

Sri Oracle

Or you can just recycle them

I gladly accept what ever the store offers, because I know the rest of my fellow ATSers make up for all the mistkaes I make when it come to stuff like this.

Thank you to all of you who do your part so I don't have to. Maybe, just maybe I would change my mind if 1 person, just 1 person could show me how man is responsible for global warming, a naturally occuring cycle that has been poven by just about every SCIENTIFIC experiment.

I always choose the paper bags because I like to use them in our kitchen to put our recycle stuff in them. Since the paper bags are also allowed to go in the recycle bin it's all good! When we fill a paper bag, we just put it out in the big bin outside.

I still haven't read the article yet, so I'm posting blindly on this one. I've always been confused as to which is better - paper or plastic. I remember when they were first promoting those plastic bags, the reasoning behind it was to save a tree. But I can't imagine those are very biodegradable so they just sit in landfills and plastic is a petroleum based product so that uses up our resources also.

Obviously, canvas is the better way to go if you have the patience for it. We usually end up buying so much, we'd have to drag along about 10 totes!

Neither. Buy a hemp bag.

Thank you to all of you who do your part so I don't have to. Maybe, just maybe I would change my mind if 1 person, just 1 person could show me how man is responsible for global warming,

How is choosing between paper and plastic about Global Warming? This is about reducing landfill waste. Polymers take a very long time to decompose and as they decompose they release DIOXINS(as well as a lot of other crap)!



This is what Dioxin poising looks like. Now just imagine what this is doing to any critters or humans that live in the vicinity of a dump. Of course they're only poor people and dumb animals so who cares right?

a naturally occuring cycle that has been poven by just about every SCIENTIFIC experiment.

According to who? Rush "Pill Popper" Limbaugh? Wrong thread.

Obviously, canvas is the better way to go if you have the patience for it. We usually end up buying so much, we'd have to drag along about 10 totes!

And this is inconvenient how? You do know that each bags literally weighs an ounce at most(if that).

Good article.
If you are able to recycle plastic bags, it looks that this is the better choice, at least from what I thought I read.

Of course, the best option is to use cloth bags.
Or some stores, like Trader JOe's sell heavy duty bags that can be reused indefinitely.

The sites demonstrates that paper is more polluting overall. I use plastic bags and reuse them at home and sometimes recycle. Though mostly I try to bring a bag with me so I don't have to use the store bags.

Supermarkets in Australia sell re-usable cloth bags that fit in their bag stuffing thing. They cost about a dollar or so. Don't other countries have this option? Skip paper AND plastic. Use RE-USABLE bags.

i generally tend to lean towards paper bags because they are stronger.

interesting read. thanks for posting.

we have been collecting and making cloth bags since last x-mas for our use and friend's use, and after reading this, i will put 2 or 3 in the back of my gti for more shopping use and try to be more habitual about using them.

i know in santa cruz, the local dog walking parks use a starch based textile to make doggie-poo bags for the park goers. i think a company ini norway has developed the technology and they are amazing! very biodegradable, and very usable.

thanks again for the post.

I use paper bags, I like them for garbage. I should use something else I know but I really don't care. I get more junk in my mail box that goes right in the trash unread. It really gets me mad yet I can't stop it.

20 paper bags a year for me , no don't shop much..

2 tons of wasted paper for junk mail , which I have to carry up and down my driveway !! BS on that. So I make it cost them , I send it back to them, you can do that for free you know.. and help keep the cost of stamps down..lol.

Save, recycle, reduce waste.

In the U.K. most supermarkets periodically offer a reusable ecologically friendly carrier bag at a low price.
Occasionally store promotions offer customers an incentive to get one or more free simply by returning 10 or more of the lightweight plastic variety.
This is a great incentive to reduce waste.
Changing the habits of a lifetime for some people is hard work but I have convinced my mother ( aged 75 ) to adopt a responsible ethos to recycle.

I hate to say this but all they have to do is start charging for the bags and soon most people will bring there own.

People care more when it's expensive ..

Originally posted by 22-250
I hate to say this but all they have to do is start charging for the bags and soon most people will bring there own.

People care more when it's expensive ..

they are starting that soon here in san francisco, if not already. i think .10 or .15 cents a bag.