ANNA GAGLIANO
Copy Editor
Every single choice we make on a day-to-day basis affects us, whether or not you’d like to believe it.
One simple phrase has set people up for an important choice for decades now: “Paper or plastic?”
Uttered by cashiers and clerks around the world, this choice that one makes at the end of their grocery store trip has a lot more substance than the aforementioned bag itself.
Given the 2020 ban of plastic bags at New York stores, most would like to think that the better choice for the environment would, of course, be paper.
That’s not necessarily true, though.
The following infographic lays out the pros and cons of each choice.
Plastic has long been the poster child for consumer hatred, something made of a material that cannot biodegrade and even hurts cute little animals like sea turtles.
The truth of the matter is that any single-use, disposable product poses risks to the environment and has many effects attached to its product life-cycle from production to disposal.
So the obvious solution would be to use reusable cloth shopping bags, right?
Again, not necessarily.
A 2006 study by the Environment Agency found that a cotton bag would need to be reused 131 times in order for it to be more environmentally-friendly than a single-use plastic bag. The study took into account the high amount of energy required to grow the cotton and manufacture the yarn and bag itself.
The same study found that paper bags only need to be reused three times, and a single-use bag itself requires four reuses.
So what’s the solution?
Reusable bags are more durable than paper or plastic, but require much more energy to be produced; paper bags come from a renewable resource and are widely recycled, but are fragile and difficult to reuse; plastic bags can be reused multiple times if treated well, but are a huge source of litter and only contribute to the growing number of plastic sitting in landfills indefinitely.
The correct choice is the one you stick to. If you’re going to use an energy-laden cotton bag, commit to that being your only bag you use at the grocery store, and be sure not to forget it.
If you prefer paper bags, be careful with them and reuse them as many times as you can.
Plastic bags are no longer an option at most businesses in NYS, but if you travel somewhere where they are, or if you just have a million old ones lying around, get as many uses out of them as you can.
In America’s capitalistic society, it is quite impossible to make the 100 percent ethical and sustainable choice all the time.
What matters is that you recognize and acknowledge the power behind your choices and do your best to accommodate for the harm they cause, while remaining comfortable in the fact that you are doing all you can.