If thinking about how you are going to carry your most recent purchase home, please take the time to think whether your plastic or Paper Bags or will end up in a landfill. Once at that landfill, will the plastic and Paper Sacks be there for a short or long period of time? Perhaps they will be there indefinitely. It would be magnificent if these things were consideredbefore you answer that all important question, “paper or plastic?”

In today’s world we need to recognize that each action we take can (and often does) have a tremendous impact on the earth. When we run out to a restaurant for Carryout food, the amount of trash left behind is enormous. Take into account the Styrofoam container the food comes in as well as the plastic silverware paper napkins, cups, straws and bag. All of these things need to go somewhere and often it is into the trash, on its way to a landfill far from your home. We rarely consider it after that.

The bags, sacks and containers have a lasting consequence on the earth. Well over a billion single-use plastic bags are given out every single day. There are repercussions for the fleeting convenience of unlimited, free, single-use plastic bags. To see the true costs, we must look at the multiple impacts of a bag’s life. In a landfill, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade. As trash on our streets, they breakdown into minute pieces contaminating our soil and water. When plastic bags breakdown, small plastic particles can create threats to sea life and contaminate the food supply for both humans and animals. Collection, hauling and disposal of plastic bag waste create an added ecological impact. Around 7 billion pounds of plastic bags, wraps and sacks enter the waste stream every year in the United States alone, placing an unwanted burden on our diminishing landfill room. It has been noted that when incinerated, plastic bags cause air pollution.

Paper bags are now thought to be a better choice. Their negative consequence on our globe is far less. It takes almost 85%less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper, recycling rates of paper bags are greater than that of plastic bags. Usually the paper bags were made of recycled paper to spin]begin|start[/spin] with. Paper sacks in today’s landfills do not break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. In fact, nothing totally degrades in present landfills bedue to the absence of water, light, and oxygen. A paper sack consumes more space than a conventional plastic bag, but since paper is recycled at an elevated rate, saving space in landfills is not much of a concern.

What should we do then when transporting our stuff? First, attempt to select paper over plastic when available. Perhaps you could use and reuse both your paper and plastic bags many, many times. Several stores will give you a slight discount for doing so. You also are saving the store money to. Most importantly however you should carry a cloth bag with you everywhere. This way you will be ready when asked “paper or plastic?” Your answer will be “neither, I brought my own bag, thank you.” And the earth shall thank you in return.