Paper bags come from a renewable resource.
However, if the bag gets dirty or greasy, putting it in the recycle bin is no longer an option.
At that point it is at best compost or fuel and at worst landfill fodder.
Also, paper has a finite number of times it can be reliably recycled.
One additional benefit of paper bags is the potential for other uses
like covering textbooks and craft projects.

Plastic bags come from a non-renewable resource.
If a plastic bag gets dirty or greasy, it can easily be cleaned and still recycled.
And, being a thermoplastic, it can theoretically be recycled infinitely many times.
However, improperly disposed of, they are at best unsightly and at worst a danger to wildlife.

Reusable bags can certainly help reduce waste.
However, what is that bag made of? Can it be recycled at the end of it’s life?
If not, you would still be creating more waste than if you had used
disposable bags and always recycled.

I can’t pretend to compare other costs like carbon footprint
with so many steps in any processing from materials to product and beyond.
While such issues are important, there are plenty of loops to be closed.
Responsible handling of any product to reduce waste is, I believe,
a step in the right direction.

I’m so tired of picking up windblown plastic bags from behind my local grocery store, right near the riverbank. Sometimes over a dozen a day, day in and day out as I pass by on the bike trail to and from work. Plastic ending up in the rivers and oceans (the mid-pacific gyre is the biggest garbage patch in the oceans) and the damage being done to ecosystems and food chains by plastic pollution, are a bigger concern to me than precious landfill space filling up.

I have been reusing bags and haven’t given much thought to all the other stuff that comes in plastic like TP and drycleaning. It’s nice to know that I can now recycle those at the supermarket bins too. I am going to stash all that plastic wrap in my reusable bags, instead of the trash. Thank you for giving me another tip!

With plastic bag pollution being a rising concern, many shoppers need to start using canvas bags in order to stop the pollution.

Plastic bag pollution is very deadly and takes hundreds of years to break down. Even if the component is broken done, the deadly chemicals will go into the ground and water system. By reducing the usage of plastic bag, Earth can recuperate. That’s why cotton bags should be used world wide to help reduce the pollution.

It is our generation to stop the pollution and start using cotton bags as the solution. With global warming going out of hand from gas exhaustion, we don’t need any more problems especially plastic bags that are harmful when broken down naturally. These broken down elements cause sickness and destruction to the air, soil and water system.

Use canvas bags starting today as a way to stop the plastic pollution that is becoming a major threat to the environment. Our lives are threatened ever more from the growing usage of plastic bags. It is time you bring a canvas bag to shopping the next time you go to a supermarket.