Comments on: Myth Busters Weekend Marathon Part 2

By: Johnny A.

Johnny A. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:55:45 +0000

Leslie,

Knowing all that you know then, are you of the belief that there are only two options, as the plastic industry would have you think? The point is that there are THREE options, the friendliest of which is not mentioned in the plastic vs. paper “myths”.

Paper is biodegradable. The reason that 40 year old newspapers are found intact is because most of the landfills in the US are non-composting.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:08:52 +0000

Plastic recyling in the US is 8%. Paper is not biodegradable. Check with Dr. william Rathje,University of Arizona, who studied landfills. He found papers 40 years old. How did he know that? They were still readable!!! It takes 15-20 yrs to grow one tree that you can get 700 grocery bags from. In 1999, 14 million trees were felled to make 10 billion grocery bags. It takes 20-40% less energy to make a plastic bag.Plastic releases 92% less emissions into the atmosphere. In delivery, one truck can hold 1 million plastic bags, where it would take 6 trucks to deliver the same amount of paper bags. Think of the pollution these trucks use.Landfills have 37% paper and paperboard content, where there is only 12% made up of plastic.Plastic is a better option. I hate to think of a tree being killed so I can get a paper bag.

By: Plasticless

Plasticless — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:46:57 +0000

Great points Johnny. I don’t have any free totes in my closets. They are in a basket by the front door

By: Bobbie Abelson

Bobbie Abelson — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 09:22:23 +0000

thbam bam bam ! this is crazy!!

By: Johnny A.

Johnny A. — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:27:51 +0000

But they are still throwing up smokescreens with their myths. While the filmy plastic bags are recyclable, the fact is that only about 4% of them get recycled in the US.

You are right, reusable bags cannot be compared in the same way that they present their statistics. Unless, of course you took the time to run life cycle analyses on every type of reusable bag imaginable.

The comparison they will never touch with a ten foot pole is the simple fact that every time a person reuses any type of bag, that’s one less plastic bag you are asking them to manufacture. Imagine if everyone in the US rummaged through their closets and attics for all of the free tote bags they ever got, and used those for grocery shopping. You can’t compare the energy cost and waste ramifications of their filmy bags to something that has ALREADY been made.