her figure in an American daytime TV programme, fumbling with the front door keys as she balances the bags of groceries in one arm? Or the classic American school kid grabbing their paper bag of lunch and running out the door to catch the bus to school. I’m not sure why I’m illustrating this point; it’s fairly obvious on its own.But enough nonsence. The point is that paper bags have a reputation as being a more eco-friendly version of plastic bags; probably because they biodegrade more quickly and don’t use up as much of the valuable oil reserve (which many, many people have died for after all). What’s more, one paper bag can hold the same amount as four plastic bags AND the burn better too – for all you crazies out there. What isn’t immediately obvious, however, is that producing paper bags actually uses thrice the energy and six times the raw material than producing plastic bags! In fact, each paper bags take a gallon of water to create – a GALLON! Personally I don’t take issue with water wastage; 63% of the Earth is water so, the way I see it, waste away my friends! But you get the point…right? In case you don’t; one ton of paper pulp takes three tons of wood chippings to create; that be a lot of dead trees right there! Not to mention the amount of petrol and electricity used in the felling and moulding processes.
So, is the greater volume really worth the effort? Are paper bags a realistic alternative to plastic ones? Well, technically speaking, yes they are; they do the same job, but probably better. However, the issue with plastic bags is not that they don’t do the job, but that they are screwing up the environment in the process. Given the amount of wood, water, electricity and all sorts that paper bags use, it doesn’t seem to me that we’d be gaining any ground by changing from plastic to paper (the reverse of the financial trend). Hence I conclude that no, paper bags are not a decent alternative to plastic bags.
AMOCERI result: FAIL
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