Alternatives to plastic bags
Everyone knows that disposable plastic bags are harmful to the environment and are very difficult to decompose. Disposable plastic bags cause a lot of harm to the environment. And they have killed many types of creatures. Realizing the harmful effects of plastic bags, we should all work together to get rid of plastic bags and replace them with paper bags. Is it really reasonable to use paper bags?
Paper can be recycled and is made from natural materials. So, it is much better than plastic bags. But the truth is that paper bags are not as good as we think. The life cycle of paper bags is quite short. So, paper bags are not reused much and are considered a waste.
Are Paper Bags Really Environmentally Friendly?
According to Awesci, the production of paper bags causes the world to lose about 14 million trees each year, which means the loss of thousands of animals’ homes without compensation and cuts a large amount of the earth’s oxygen supply. Paper bag production causes 50 times more water pollution than plastic bag production. Awesci also said that “paper bag production causes 70 times more air pollution than plastic bag production“.
Next, recycling – which is a very controversial issue. Paper can be recycled, this is true, but when you know the truth that recycling a plastic bag uses 91% less than recycling a paper bag. Many people will surely have to ask whether or not to recycle paper bags.
Moreover, the process of recycling paper bags requires many steps. Each step of forming a recycled paper bag requires giant machines that use a lot of fossil energy. Even if we achieve good results, removing 1 paper bag from the landfill, manufacturers will still return to the environment a significant amount of chemicals that are dissolved in water and released into the air.
Although plastic bags are harmful, compared to their durability, plastic bags can be reused many times more than paper bags. Paper bags can only be used a few times and then become trash. In terms of decomposition time, the time it takes for paper bags to decompose is not much faster than plastic bags.
So, what is an effective solution?
The best way to consume wisely and protect the environment is to reuse bags thousands of times (maybe like PP non-woven bags). Each time you reuse a bag, you do not waste energy, do not emit carbon, do not cause climate change, do not cut down trees, do not kill marine life. Through daily actions, we need to get into the habit of reusing bags whenever possible.
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