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Americans go through hundreds of billions of plastic bags each year. In an effort to
curb the number of <a href="https://www.altabag.com/soft-bag/">Soft Bag</a>s being used
once and then thrown away, cities around the world have instituted bans or taxes on
plastic bags. But are paper or reusable bags much better for the environment? Science
shows that there is not a clear answer.
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<strong>Plastic Bags</strong>
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A major advantage of plastic bags is that, when compared to other types of shopping
bags, producing them carries the lowest environmental toll. The thin, plastic grocery
store bags are most commonly made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Although
production of these bags does use resources like <a>petroleum</a>, it results in less
carbon emissions, waste, and harmful byproducts than cotton or paper bag production.
Plastic bags are also relatively sturdy and reusable. Many of the studies about different
bagging options that show plastic bags production demands less resources assume plastic
bags are used at least twice—once coming home and once as a trash bag—and factor this
into the calculations about which bags are more <a>sustainable</a>.
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Plastic <a href="https://www.altabag.com/soft-bag/duffle-bag/">Duffle Bag</a>s are
<a>recyclable</a>, though few people recycle them. Recycling plastic bags is a difficult
task; they fly away in the recycling plant and get stuck in machinery. Because of this,
many cities do not offer curbside recycling for plastic bags. Instead, large-scale
retailers offer bag recycling services. However, these services are dependent on the
<a>consumer</a> bringing the plastic bags back to the store.
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Bags that are not recycled end up becoming litter, because they do not
<a>biodegrade</a>. In addition to filling up landfills and becoming eyesores, plastic
bags that become litter endanger many facets of the environment, including marine life
and the food chain. This is because plastic bags, like all plastic materials, eventually
break up into microscopic pieces, which scientists refer to as microplastics.
Microplastics have been found nearly everywhere: in marine animals, farmland soil, and
urban air.
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Though scientists have only just begun studying the consequences of
<a>microplastic</a> proliferation, and we do not yet know their effect on animals,
humans, and the environment, scientists are concerned about how this level of plastic
pollution could change our planet. The studies that found plastic bags to be less harmful
to the environment than paper and reusable bags did not take effects of litter into
account and instead assumed that the plastic bags would be recycled or used as trash
bags.
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<strong>Paper Bags</strong>
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Paper bags have some advantages over plastic bags when it comes to sustainability.
They are easier to recycle, and, because they are biodegradable, they can be used for
purposes like composting. However, paper is very resource-heavy to produce: Manufacturing
a paper bag takes about four times as much energy as it takes to produce a plastic bag,
plus the chemicals and fertilizers used in producing paper bags create additional harm to
the environment.
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Studies have shown that, for a paper <a href="https://www.altabag.com/soft-
bag/flight-bag/">Flight Bag</a> to neutralize its environmental impact compared to
plastic, it would have to be used anywhere from three to 43 times. Since paper bags are
the least durable of all the bagging options, it is unlikely that a person would get
enough use out of any one bag to even out the environmental impact.
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Still, the fact that paper is recyclable helps lessen its impact. In 2018, 68.1
percent of paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling, a percentage
that has been rising in the last decade. However, because paper fibers become shorter and
weaker each time the recycling process takes place, there is a limit to how many times
paper can be recycled.
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