Are paper bags better alternatives to plastics bags?

25-Aug-05

If plastics bags and packaging is replaced with traditional materials like paper, cloth, jute, metal, etc., it would lead to major penalty on the economic system. Phenomenal increase in weight of packaging by 300%, volume of waste by 160%, energy requirements by 110%, cost of packaging by 210%. Hence, there is no eco-viable alternative to plastics in modern society. Paper is not eco-friendly. We need to remind ourselves that making of paper and paper products consumes a lot of chemicals and requires a large amount of water, and leads to severe effluent problems. Besides, paper, unless coated with polymeric materials or wax, cannot withstand wet conditions which are widely prevalent in India, particularly during monsoon periods. Paper making also consumes a lot of energy. In the Indian context the most serious problem is the availability of pulp. Environmental degradation has unquestionably occurred due to pulp manufacturing activities such as commercial forestry. How eco-friendly is paper? Globally, paper is the 5th largest consumer of energy-- 10% of all industry energy consumption and 4% of world consumption, one of the largest users of water and one mt of paper (7000-8000 copies of newspapers) requires felling of 10 to 17 trees. Paper cannot be recycled indefinitely. It can be recycled to a maximum of 4 times. Recycling of paper is also energy intensive and requires chemicals for bleaching and deinking. Rated medium in biodegradability with associated hazards like leachates, paper imposes heavy burden on environment. If we do not ban paper, why ban plastics? The smaller volume of plastic bags can help conserve landfill space. Nothing degrades fast enough to extend the useful lives of modern US landfills: not paper, not plastics, nothing. 30% less material is used to produce today's plastic bags than the bags made just 5 years ago. Compared to paper grocery bags, plastic grocery bags consume 40% less energy than paper. (1.34 million MJ vs. 0.58 million MJ for 1 million bags).Plastics generate 80% less solid wastes, produce 70% fewer atmospheric emissions, release upto 94% fewer waterborne wastes.