Paper Or Plastic?

Have you seen the horrifying email images that went around in the beginning of the year? The email with images of grocery store paper bags wrapped around nature and wildlife.

The images of the ducks with the paper bag cutting off the circulation to their webbed feet, and the images of the bird making the nest with remnants of a paper bag.

So you have heard it all and you know you should be:

1. recycling your paper bags and
2. not using them in the first place and
3. purchase a ‘green’ tote that you take with you anytime you go shopping

Have you ever seen what a paper recycling plant looks like? Picture a Hollywood movie set made entirely out of squished together plastic grocery bags. And, did you know that plastic cannot technically be ‘recycled’ and instead, it is ‘downcycled’?

It is very difficult to actually recycle plastic bags which mean making new plastic bags out of the old ones. The material which makes up plastic bags loses viability in the recycling process making this nearly impossible.

And, what about biodegradable? Basically a ‘mix’ of plastic and pseudo-recycled plastic. What do you think, biodegradable or should you just use a tote?

Related Posts:

1. Things You Didn’t Know About Recycling Plastic
2. Paper Recycling And Where It Falls In Our Environmental Issues
3. How to Politely Refuse a Plastic Bag (Graphic)
4. The Shocking Statistics Of Plastic: Did You Know That?
5. Apple Going “Green” Will End The Paper Magazine’s Existence