Every time I go to the grocery I take an impromptu poll on people that bring their reusable grocery bags. It’s about 20% now at Publix depending on which clerk you ask. Last year it was 15%.
Remember when activist groups were freaking out over “billions of plastic bags”? So now we have billions of those cloth-like, non-woven polypropylene bags that 8 out of 10 people don’t reuse. And these things are all imported, not helping our jobs at home; have 17 times the carbon footprint as regular bags and are NOT recyclable. What’s a mother to do?
What about cotton?
If you are considering cotton as an environmentally sound alternative, think again. Because of the number of processes that cotton has to go through to become the bag you carry to the grocery, it is over 300 times more environmentally intensive than a single-use plastic grocery t-shirt bag. Follow me for a minute: Cotton requires heavy fertilization; most is grown on foreign soil now; it requires mechanical harvesting, baling, transporting to the gin, and processing the seeds out (ginning); then it is warehoused, then sent to the weavers, then to a distributor, then to a sewing factory, then to another distributor, then across the ocean to a 3rd distributor, then shipped to you. Whew. And that’s the short version!
Which bag is best for the environment anyway?
There have been many recent studies comparing the energy, pollution, water and carbon releases for producing the four most common types of bags in use. One by the British government which has been widely accepted is illustrated here in a pdf format you can download: Plastic vs. Cotton Reusable Bags
The view is changing regarding plastic bags. Local and state governments are reconsidering their once-toxic views regarding PE bags (regular polyethylene plastic bags) and now the sentiment isn’t so much against plastic as it is against single-use bags. Therefore it makes a lot of sense from an environmental and economic standpoint to move back to square one with domestic paper and reusable plastic bags.
Plastic is let off the hook
Even the 2011 ban in LA County, CA isn’t really a ban of plastic. In fact, it was tailored for plastic bags, just “reusable” ones. Under the new legislation, a reusable bag can be made from plastic if it is 2.25 mil or thicker, can be reused 125 times (yes there is a test for that) and will hold 15 liters of volume.
So which bags work?
While almost all of Nashville Wraps’ Plastic Shopping Bags are made to be reusable and even legal in California, we are not stopping there. Consumers want them to have a lasting “feel”. So as usual, we will be bringing many smart solutions to the table very soon. The picture at the beginning of this article (above) is a preview of one of our USA Reusable bags made from 100% recycled, renewable polyethylene. It is much thicker than most plastic bags, and passes all tests and concerns with flying (red, white and blue) colors!
Robby Meadows
Nashville Wraps
You made a great point about there being studies about the different releases from bags. My husband and I are looking for a biodegradable plastic t-shirt bag that we can use when we shop. We will keep these tips in mind as we search for a professional that can help us best.
Check out my new blog: http://fighttheplasticbagban.com/
On my blog I have a “documents” menu item. If you click on that there are a number of papers that I have written that can be downloaded.
We recently published a paper titled “Using Reusable Bags: It’s Not That Easy” Which talks about the challenges consumers face when using reusable bags.
That’s interesting. Thanks; I learned something new today, particularly about cotton bags. Something else that’s related to your post is this video I saw on YouTube. Check it out: http://youtu.be/mokcx-fNohg
If a cotton bag uses 300x more energy and rescources than a plastic bag, it means that in less than one year of daily use, you’ll be ahead of the game by switching to cotton. Using a cotton bag that is high quality for shopping is not a waste. Many last years, if not decades.
Plastic is not ever truly biodegradable. It just breaks down into tiny pieces of plastic that end up in our water, food, and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (find videos on the GPGP on google).
Companies that make cheap cotton t shirts for promotion and giveaways use a lot more cotton for a lot less reason than reusable cotton grocery bags.
A “perfect” solution would be to use a bin or your bare hands, but being green is about finding a good, easy solution that you can live with, not finding one that is exempt from all criticism.
We make high quality cotton bags, made Fair Trade and Fair Wage in India. We’re women owned and give to charities “On Behalf of Those Who Purchased The Planet Bag” every month, then list the charities on our website.
Robby,
How does the general public know where to turn your bags in for recycling?
Regarding the 100% compostable, 100% biodegradable question: If bags are cotton, then the energy and carbon required to make them is still over the top. Many paper bags are often not very reusable, so even when they are compostable or biodegradable, they are considered single use. Also keep in mind that compostable bags are really only viable for the handful of cities that have municipal composting plants. Nashville Wraps sells plastic bags that are degradable, but not compostable (we do also have compostable cello bags). Compostable plastics are polylatic-acid based, so they cannot be recycled with regular plastic bags; they are very expensive; and more fuel and energy is consumed in making the raw materials than you save with the compostability of the products. The best answer is to turn your plastic bags back in and let us make new ones from them!
Hi Stacey! Check out Robby’s other blogs on this subject to answer your questions:
https://www.nashvillewraps.com/blog/2010/02/mexico-city-bans-plastic-bags-approves-biodegradable-ones/
https://www.nashvillewraps.com/blog/2010/10/about-compostable-packaging/
Wow ~ some things here that I did NOT know??!! Thanks for sharing!
What about 100% compostable, 100% biodegradable bags and products?
Good article. You broght some things to light that the general public really doesn’t know. I look forward to seeing your reusable plastic bags.