Plastics spoil the world. They contribute to global warming. Well, these are most frequently said statements by people.
So, with that are plastic bags a thing of past?
Global data on the plastic bags say a big “NO”. Plastic bags waste in Europe and the USA is less than 1 % of the overall waste.
Awareness among the bag users
May it be laminated, printed plastic bags or normal carry bags, people have become more responsive to the use of plastic bags. They have become aware of the pros and cons of the abuse of plastic bags.
Most people have recognized that it’s high time they need to stop abusing plastic bags and reuse them as a safeguard against rising issue of global warming and make the earth sustainable for upcoming generations. Some of the manufacturers have also started educating their clients on how reusing the plastics can help tackle global warming in easy ways.
Manufacturers resort to biodegradable bags
Plastic bags manufacturers have started developing reusable, recyclable and bio-degradable solutions for the common people to ensure that the plastic is not abused by those who do not understand the value of mother earth and nature. It is through challenging to grow the required raw materials for manufacturing bioplastics.
There is a need to innovate and come up with technology that develops bioplastics without emptying the natural resources.
Are Plastic bags better than paper bags?
Yes, it’s true. It might hurt the proponents of the paper bags, but it’s a holy fact. Paper bag production is much more harmful than plastic bags for a multiple reasons
- The paper bag production life cycle is too long and it involved shipping to multiple countries before being going to the market.
- According to the sources, the papers bags are found to be polluting the environment much more than the normal plastic bags or laminated, printed, spout and trade show bags.
Not only does the paper bag production create 70% more pollution, but it creates a lot of water pollution in the addition. Moreover, paper bags utilize around four times more energy in the production than plastic bags. Also, to your surprise recycling the paper bags isn't easy as it requires almost 90 times more energy to recycle the same.
So, do you still propose paper bags over plastics?
Government is banning plastics – may be, wrongly
Governments of many countries are curbing the abuse of plastics by imposing penalties, fines and ban on imports. Rather than using plastic, they offer alternatives which are more harmful.
There is a strong need for myth busting and apart, the government should do the proper life-cycle analysis of paper bags and paper bags before making the lawn stringent against any one of these.
If the real problems are addressed well in time, the future of plastic shopping bags is surely not dark. Reuse, go green and recycle are the three easy ways to success.