The question of the day: Paper or Plastic?

Plastic
• Made from a byproduct of oil refining: polyethylene. The bags are manufactured using electricity.
• Between 500 million and 1 trillion plastic bags are made worldwide each year.
• Some say plastic will never break down and disappear. Others say it will break down after 1000 years in a landfill, 450 years in the ocean.
• Positive: They take up less space in landfills.
• Potential: They can easily be recycled by remelting, which sterilizes the plastic and then reforming. This process can be repeated many times.
• Problem: Only 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled, the rest go to landfills, waterways, storm drains, etc.

According to an article in the BBC dated May 8, 2002, in South Africa plastic bags have been dubbed "The National Flower" because so many hang from fences and get caught in bushes. Also, Ireland has imposed a 15 cent tax on each new plastic bag to curb the litter problem. Within a couple of months shoppers have switched to reusing bags. One of the biggest grocery chains, Superquinn, states that the number of new bags it distributes has dropped by 97.5%.
• According to the Sierra Club, when 1 ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved.

Paper
• Made from trees, considered to be renewable. Making paper involves logging and destroying habitat for plants and animals, in addition to the trees ability to absorb greenhouse gases. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone.
• It takes 3 tons of wood to produce 1 ton of wood pulp from which paper bags are made. Pulp is washed and bleached using thousands of gallons of clean water.
• It takes more that four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag, which means more greenhouse gases are produced.
• Paper can breakdown in landfills if water, light and oxygen can get to it, which is not the case in most of our landfills.
• Recycled paper creates less air pollution and less water pollution than virgin paper, however both involve using chemicals that eventually get into our waterways. Recycled paper is more environmentally friendly than virgin paper, but at this time it is also more expensive to buy.
• According to the Sierra Club, "When 1 ton of paper bags is reused or recycled, 3 cubic meters of landfill space is saved and 13-17 trees are spared! In 1997 955,000 tons of paper bags were used in the U.S."

Solutions
• BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag)
• Recycle
• In Middleburg, reuse or deposit plastic bags in the bin in front of Safeway. Please do not put them in the bins at Mickey Gordon's recycling center.
• Reuse paper and take to Mickey Gordon's recycling center.