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Paper or Plastic: Which Bags Hurt the Environment More?

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Plastic bags have a bad reputation, but banning them could have some surprising negative effects. A ban could have repercussions on consumer convenience and even the economy without making a truly significant improvement to the environment.

Plastic Bag Alternatives Aren't Necessarily Better

The common belief is that just about anything is better than the typical thin plastic bag you get from the supermarket, but it's not so simple. There are surprising environmental issues to consider, as well as situations where plastic just works better than paper or cotton. Sometimes, plastic is even being reused in the process (like lining a bathroom trashcan or cleaning up after your dog on a walk).

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Paper Lasts Longer in Landfills

Paper takes up more room in landfills and doesn't exactly disintegrate rapidly. According to North Suburban News, paper bags take up nine times more room than plastic and break down at about the same rate. Switching to biodegradable plastic bags might be something to consider, but a ban on plastic bags won't do much for the landfills. If anything, assuming an increase in paper bag usage, it could make the problem worse.

Plastic's Carbon Footprint Is Better

An interview with chemistry professor David Tyler posted on the University of Oregon's website revealed that plastic bags actually produce less stress on the environment than paper or cotton bags. They use less water, require fewer chemicals, and produce less greenhouse gas than the other two options. Plastic has half the carbon footprint of the cotton and paper bags. It's counterintuitive to think that plastic could be less harmful than something natural, like cotton, but it is.

In 2011, the Northern Ireland Assembly published a report titled "Comparison of Environmental Impact of Plastic, Paper and Cloth Bags" that discussed not only the resources that go into creating paper and the pollution the process creates, but the amount of waste in the industry. According to the report, it takes four times more energy to produce a paper bag then it does a plastic one.

Independent research in the same 2011 report showed that plastic bags cause 200 times less climate damage than reusable bags. Additionally, people would have to carry their reuseable bag every day for a year or reuse a paper bag at least three times to have the same impact as plastic.

Assuming the plastic bags are the worst simply because they're plastic and don't break down rapidly seems to make sense, but a wider view reveals that the decision whether to ban the bags isn't so simple. Their creation and shipment (they weigh less and take up less room than paper, therefore requiring less gas and fewer trucks to be transported) of plastic bags aren't as detrimental to the environment as one might think, at least by comparison.

Increased Usage of Other Plastic Bags

When plastic bags given away for free in stores are banned, there's an increase in the types of plastic bags people can purchase to fulfill the same jobs as the free ones. For example, NPR reported that small garbage bag sales increased by 120 percent after a plastic bag ban went into effect in California. It did decrease plastic trash by 40 million fewer pounds per year, but that use was simply displaced in large part. The plastic in the replacement bags is thicker and a bigger threat to the environment than the thinner plastic in the free bags used in stores.

Small Percentage of the Litter Problem

According to the Reason Foundation, plastic bags aren't as big of a litter problem as it seems. They make up less than one percent of visible litter, don't block storm drains, make up just 0.4 percent of municipal waste, and don't even cut down on litter when banned (instead, there was an increase in litter in San Francisco after plastic bags were banned). Therefore, one could argue that efforts spent trying to ban plastic bags is effort that could be put to better use elsewhere, perhaps on garbage issues that take up larger percentages of the litter and land pollution problem.

Reusable Bags Aren't Sanitary

The Reason Foundation article also goes on to say that reusing bags in the warmer months could lead to an increase in bacteria. If you're using them in the grocery store, this is even more of a concern. The bacteria could spread not only to your food, but to shopping carts and checkout counters, where it could also affect others' food. In fact, it could even transfer germs, bacteria, and other health concerns beyond food and into the gym!

Cost of Washing Bags

Washing the reusable bags after use makes them an even bigger drain on the environment because so much water would be used to keep them clean and safe to use. The article says it would cost $1.5 billion dollars if all the California residents (12.4 million households) washed their bags once a week for a quick five minutes.

People Don't Clean Them

The Cleveland Clinic reported that 97 percent of people who use reusable bags are not aware that they should wash and sanitize them regularly. When meat and produce are stored in the trunk in reusable bags, the risk of bacteria growth is even higher because of the warmer temperatures, according to Dr. Rehm. It is also stated that people should designate specific bags for meats, produce, etc. to avoid cross contamination.

Bacteria, Yeast, Mold, and More

A 2019 report on a microbiological study of reusable bags showed a food poisoning risk from Samonella, E-coli and Listeria in the 30 bags they analyzed. There were also reports of bacteria with antibiotic resistent profiles. The use of these bags for things other than transporting groceries (using them as diaper bags or for dirty gym clothes, for example), could increase the exposure to MRSA. Additionally, black mold and yeast can also be found in the reusable bags.

Single-use bags, by contrast, had no remarkable issues with yeast, mold, or bacteria. They were the most sanitary option, along with the very first use of a reusable bag. According to a University of Arizona study, single-use and brand new reusable bags were not contaminated at all.

The Cost Would Hurt the Poor

If plastic bags are banned that means everyone has to go out and purchase reusable bags. For someone with a very tight budget, needing to buy bags to carry their groceries and other items home could mean less food on the table. Add to that the need to purchase trash bags and other items they usually use the free bags for, and the poor are at quite a disadvantage.

Overestimated Contribution to the Environment

Amid other concerns, there's always a likelihood that some people might overestimate their contribution to helping the environment. If they give up plastic bags under the belief that they're a huge problem to the earth, they may stop trying in other areas where the attempt to be "greener" would have a bigger impact. By giving up plastic and reusing bags, people may feel they're already doing their part to make the world a better place and stop their efforts there.

Going green and saving the environment involves more than just giving up plastic bags. Stopping pollution will involve efforts on multiple fronts, from plastic bags as part of land pollution issues to issues surrounding energy, air, and water pollution. It's important to always keep the bigger picture in mind when it comes to protecting the environment.

Plastic Bags Are Cheaper for Stores

In an interview at National Geographic, Robert Batement, president of plastic bag manufacturing company Roplast Industries, says the cost of a plastic bag is cheaper than paper bags. With a price of 3-5 cents a bag when compared to 5-23 cents for paper, according to NJ, plastic is the winner for stores from a budgeting standpoint. That difference alone saves stores quite a bit of money. Bateman called plastic bags a "victim of their success" (they are so convenient, functional, and inexpensive, they're now everywhere and sometimes overused) and suggested biodegradable plastic bags as an alternative.

Reusable Bags Aren't Reused

Even when people switch to reusable bags, those bags aren't reused enough to make up for the extra resources and carbon footprint involved in their creation. In many cases, they're treated like single-use bags, tossed after one (or maybe a few) uses. Bloomberg View reported surprising results that came after a plastic bag ban in Austin, Texas. Two years after the ban was put in place, people were "throwing away heavy-duty reusable plastic bags at an unprecedented rate." The article goes on to say that if it's happening in Austin, it's probably happening anywhere else there's a ban on plastic bags. There are almost as many reusable bags at Austin's recycling centers now as there were single-use bags removed from circulation.

Those reusable bags aren't usually able to be recycled, either, and they can cause problems with the equipment when they make their way into recycling centers on accident. Where do they end up after a brief stint of use? Landfills. Landfills have a host of environmental problems all their own that people should be cautious before adding to them.

The Cost of Education Programs

A movement to educate the public on how to use these bags safely would cost state and local governments. Forcing constituents to transition to reusable bags without alerting everyone to the risks of cross-contamination and teaching them how to use and care for the bags would be a public health danger, according to the University of Arizona article. In some cases, the education costs could fall on retailers' shoulders. A Connecticut General Assembly report discussed educational programs used in some states.

Encouraging Reusable Bags

In an attempt to encourage customers to use reusable bags instead of single-use plastic ones, Tucson, Arizona retailers were required to educate their customers through plastic bag recycling programs and teach them the benefits of recycling plastic bags or choosing reusable bags. In addition, they had to train employees on how to reduce the use of plastic bags, educate children in school about plastic bag use (this could include contests and other promos, and social media), and more.

In a public-private partnership method in Wilton, Connecticut, there was a six-month training program for residents, 12,000 reusable bags were given out, a public relations campaign was set up, and there was an art contest for the best reusable bag decoration.

Switching Isn't Simple

In the Tucson and Wilton cases, the goal wasn't to ban the bags entirely, but to cut down on their use. However, it shows the effort involved in getting the word out about the use of plastic bags versus reusable bags. Residents and employees need to be trained on how to treat reusable bags, understand why they're using them instead of disposable thin plastic bags, and learn how to use them safely.

The switch isn't necessarily quick and simple, and without education on sanitizing reusable bags, there's a public health hazard, as well. All of that comes with high costs.

They Are Reusable and Functional

Plastic bags are functional, durable, and reusable. Need to carry a lot of grocery bags at once? Plastic works better than paper for that. Want to keep your wet clothes or shoes separate from other items in your beach bag, or separate your shoes from your clothes in your luggage? Plastic bags work better, especially in the case of the wet items (paper could leak and/or rip, and cotton also leaks). Plastic bags generally won't leak unless there's a hole (not the case for paper and cotton), and water won't cause it to tear. You can reuse them in bathrooms, bedrooms, and home offices instead of buying separate bags for your smaller trash cans. If you want to clean up after your dog on a walk, you probably won't want to use your paper or cotton bags. Reusing and recycling the thin plastic bags, which is possible because they are so durable and multi-functional compared to paper, cuts down on their carbon footprint even more.

Economic Repercussions

A plastic bag ban wouldn't only affect the environment. It would have an economic impact as well. A summary of a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis found that stores inside ban areas in Los Angeles saw a six percent decrease in sales whereas stores just outside of those areas saw a sales growth of nine percent over the course of a year.

On top of that, jobs were lost. Stores in areas that did not allow plastic bags saw a 10 percent drop in employment. Employment outside the ban areas increased. Banning plastic bags on a large scale could also endanger at least some of the 30,000+ plastic bag manufacturing and recycling jobs in the United States.

Reusable Bags Come From Overseas

The National Center for Policy Analysis says most (at least 95 percent) of the reusable bags are from overseas. Most of those are from China. Not only does that mean an increase in fuel needed to get them to the United States, but in many cases, the bags from China contain toxic chemicals that aren't permitted in the production of bags in the states. In addition to the concerns about fuel consumption and toxic chemicals, getting the bags from China and elsewhere means fewer bags are produced in the United States, which leads to fewer jobs.

A Ban Could Be Detrimental

Banning plastic bags in lieu of cotton or paper could have a negative impact on the environment overall, not to mention the inconvenience of limiting reuse of those bags for everyday things like lining trash cans, protecting your belongings, or even cleaning up after your dog. In addition, banning plastic bags could leave a significant number of people without jobs and cost individuals, communities, and governments money, whether through the purchase of reusable bags or educational programs for the public. Though it may sound like a positive change on the surface, banning plastic bags could actually be detrimental to the environment and the economy.

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Why We Should Not Ban Plastic Bags | LoveToKnow

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Plastic bags have a bad reputation, but banning them could have some surprising negative effects. A ban could have repercussions on consumer convenience and even the economy without making a truly significant improvement to the environment. The common belief is that just about anything is better than the typical thin plastic bag you get from the supermarket, but it's not so simple.

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Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. The bad news: Sea life can’t tell the difference between plastic and food.

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News Analysis

IN my New York City apartment, the kitchen drawers, the coat closet, even the wine rack are overflowing with a type of waste that is rapidly disappearing elsewhere - the used plastic shopping bag.

Many countries and a handful of American cities have more or less done away with this supposed convenience item, by discouraging its use through plastic-bag taxes at checkout counters or outright bans. Walk down the streets of Dublin or Seattle or San Francisco and there is barely a bag in sight. Life continues.

"It didn't take people very long to accommodate at all," said Dick Lilly, manager for waste prevention in Seattle, where a plastic-bag ban took effect last summer. "Basically overnight those grocery and drugstore bags were gone."

But in much of America we seem more addicted than ever. On a recent shopping trip to Target in Chicago for some dorm supplies while visiting my son, I emerged with what seemed to be more bags than socks or rolls of toilet paper (only a slight exaggeration). At my local supermarket, plastic bags are applied layer upon layer around purchases, like Russian nesting dolls.

"Plastic shopping bags are an enormous problem for New York City," said Ron Gonen, the deputy commissioner of sanitation for recycling and waste reduction, noting that the city pays $10 million annually to send 100,000 tons of plastic bags that are tossed in the general trash to landfills in South Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. That, he points out, "is amazing to think of, because a plastic bag doesn't weigh much at all."

All across the country, plastic bags are the bane of recycling programs. When carelessly placed into recycling bins for general plastic - which they often are - the bags jam and damage expensive sorting machines, which cost huge amounts to repair.

"We have to get people to start carrying reusable bags," Mr. Gonen said. "We're going to do what we can to start moving the needle."

"The question," he continued, "is do we use a carrot or a stick to change behavior?"

So far New York has used carrots, to little effect. (More about that later.) Unfortunately, most experts believe it will take a stiff stick to break a habit as ingrained as this one is in the United States. (In many European countries, like France and Italy, the plastic bag thing never fully caught on.)

In my case, I know I should bring a cloth bag along for shopping trips. And I do - when I remember. But experience shows that even environmentally conscious people need prodding and incentives to change their behavior permanently.

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Credit... David Goldman for The New York Times

Where they exist, bans and charges or taxes (when set high enough) have been extremely successful and often raise revenue for other environmental projects. Unfortunately, these tactics are deeply unpopular in most of the nation.

After Austin, Tex., passed a bag ban earlier this year and with Dallas considering one, State Representative Drew Springer, a Republican, introduced the Shopping Bag Freedom Act in the Legislature. That act essentially bans bag bans, protecting the right of merchants to provide bags of any material to customers.

Businesses often fight hard against plastic-bag laws. When in 2007, Seattle first tried to impose a fee of 20 cents for each plastic bag, the American Chemistry Council financed a popular referendum that voted down the "bag tax," before it even took effect, Mr. Lilly said.

It took several more years for the city to regroup and impose its current ban. Plastic shopping bags are forbidden in stores, and though paper bags may be used, each one costs the shopper 5 cents. (There are exemptions, however: restaurants managed to secure one for takeout food, for example.)

A number of states are considering some form of statewide bans or taxes. And last month, Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, introduced a bill to create a national 5-cent tax on all disposable plastic or paper bags provided by stores to customers. Some of the revenue would be used to create a Disposable Carryout Bag Trust Fund and to maintain national parks.

Actually, the idea of a bag tax may not seem so foreign to federal lawmakers: for the past three years, Washington has had its own 5-cent tax. Although bag use there dropped sharply, many experts feel that the charge should be even higher. In Ireland, for example, the bag tax is about 30 cents per bag.

By any measure, New Yorkers are laggards on the issue. In 2008, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg tried unsuccessfully to pass a bag tax of 6 cents. More recently, New York State has preferred to attack the problem with soft diplomacy. Since 2009, large stores throughout the state providing plastic bags have been required to take them back for recycling. But there is not much enforcement, Mr. Gonen said, and the program "hasn't put a dent" in the numbers.

While the chain pharmacies and supermarkets in my neighborhood initially put out recycling bins for the bags, they have largely disappeared. Some stores will begrudgingly take back plastic at the sales counter - though I've seen the bags subsequently tossed in the trash. (Though plastic bags can be recycled, they must be separated from other forms of plastic.) The Bloomberg administration is also considering partnering with supermarkets to create incentive programs with shopping points awarded to those who bring reusable bags.

Frank Convery, an economist at University College, Dublin, who has studied the effects of Ireland's 10-year-old bag tax - the first in the world - is skeptical: "As regards the plastic bag issue, whatever is done has to be mandatory," he said. "The New York model is designed to fail."

Mr. Gonen said cities got a lot of complaints about plastic bags. So why wouldn't that inspire more of them to take action? It is another paradox of environmental politics - just as when New Yorkers show strong support for a bike-sharing plan but protest when bike-sharing racks appear on their sidewalk.

In a city where dog owners are forced to pick up their pets' waste and are precluded from smoking in parks, why is it so hard to get people to employ reusable bags for shopping?

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News Analysis IN my New York City apartment, the kitchen drawers, the coat closet, even the wine rack are overflowing with a type of waste that is rapidly disappearing elsewhere - the used plastic shopping bag.

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Re " Ten Cents a Bag? That's About Right " (editorial, April 8):

I must contend there is very little right about this bill before the New York City Council. While the ultimate goal of the bill - to sharply decrease the number of plastic bags used in New York City's retail and grocery stores - is a virtuous one, the means are far too harsh on residents to justify the end. To ask New York City residents, who already suffer with some of the highest taxes in the country, to pay 10 cents per bag (which for a family could easily amount to an extra $3 or $4 a week) is imprudent.

Although residents on food stamps will not be subjected to the charge, this does not exempt thousands of other New Yorkers who are struggling just to get by - not to mention senior citizens. For them, a few dollars a week could make a difference, and I for one do not believe that they should have to spend it on plastic bags.

That is why I am looking into alternative legislation to reduce plastic bag consumption, including offering a small discount to shoppers who bring their own bags (which some supermarkets already do) and a recycling program similar to the one for bottles.

We all know that these bags are harmful and need to go, but New Yorkers should not be the ones holding the bill at checkout time.

JAMES VACCA
Bronx, April 8, 2014
The writer is a City Council member. To the Editor:
Your editorial recommending passage of a bill imposing a charge for plastic bags ignores the hundreds of thousands of high-rise apartment dwellers for whom this will constitute an unwanted and unwarranted tax. How will we dump kitty litter? How will we dispose of garbage down the chute? Are the apartment buildings really ready for raw garbage going down the incinerator chutes as residents avoid another 10 cents?

Food stores often put packaged chicken in a plastic bag to keep it from contaminating fresh vegetables. How will this work? How many separate reusable bags will have to be used per shopping trip?

Food is expensive enough without the addition of 10 cents a bag, which will add up to a significant sum over a year of grocery shopping.

JANE E. COLVIN
New York, April 8, 2014

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Paying Extra for a Plastic Bag for Your Groceries. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Opinion | Paying Extra for a Plastic Bag for Your Groceries

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Re " Ten Cents a Bag? That's About Right " (editorial, April 8): I must contend there is very little right about this bill before the New York City Council.