Paper or Plastic?

Update: EVO and Heal the Bay recently partnered to distribute reusable bags at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. The Santa Monica City Council is considering a proposal that aims to ban plastic bags and charge a fifteen cent tax on paper bags, making it the most comprehensive ban in the country. The bag distribution was a huge hit, with Heal the Bay's Bag Monster drawing a crowd, and over three hundred bags given out in under twenty minutes. Keep reading to learn more about plastic bag bans and their impact on the environment.

"If China can do it, why can't we?" This is the question that Heal the Bay posed to the Los Angeles City Council on one Tuesday in January. China and San Francisco recently passed plastic bag bans, and Whole Foods is discontinuing the use of plastic bags in all of it's stores nationwide by Earth Day 2008. IKEA has been charging five cents per plastic bag for almost a year. Unfortunately, Los Angeles did not follow in the footsteps of San Francisco and China with an outright ban. Instead, they agreed to reduce plastic bag use by 30% by 2010 and 65% by 2013. The ban is opposed by the California Grocers Association, who claims the price difference between plastic and paper bags will result in necessary product price increases. EVO encourages consumers to show support for plastic bag bans in their cities, and follow the latest news on bans around the country here.

What's the big deal about plastic bags? Over 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide every year - and less than 1% are recycled. The other 99% contribute to the death of over 100,000 marine mammals every year. Just marine mammals - sea lions, otters, whales and dolphins. That's not taking into account the innumerable fish and birds that are killed by ingesting plastic bags. Sea animals aren't the only ones affected. Livestock also ingest the bags, suffering the same fate as the marine animals. Plastic bags also require petroleum and natural gas to product - resources that are limited and non-renewable.

If consumers aren't using plastic bags, what should they be using? Paper? Nope. Paper bags actually require four times as much energy to produce. They also generate 70% more air pollution in the production process that plastic bags. Because they are more dense, they cost more to transport to stores across the country. To provide American consumers with enough paper bags to fill their needs for one year, it necessitated the harvesting of 14 MILLION trees. Just for paper bags!

What is the answer to the great bag dilemma? Bring your own. Reusable bags are now fashionable, colorful and - dare we say it - trendy. Many stores are offering their own reusable bags, and it's not just Whole Foods and Trader Joe's anymore. Giant retailers such as Staples, the Home Depot and even Wal-Mart are offering reusable bags to their customers. Even better than a reusable bag is one made of 100% PCW (post-consumer waste). New reusable bags are often made of non-woven polyethylene (PET) which also requires petroleum to produce. It's becoming easier and easier to find bags made of recycled plastic, and this is, inarguably, the best option. In fact, let us help you find one today...

- Laura Tallon, Evo Media