PAPER OR PLASTIC? Kate Pinter vs.

Outline  Consumption  Production  Pollution  Recycling  Biodegradable?  Negatives of both  What should we do?  Discussion

Consumption - Paper  Americans use over 10 billion paper bags per year  14 million trees cut down annually for paper bag production

Consumption - Plastic  Americans use 100 billion plastic bags annually  Equivalent to 12 million barrels of oil  Worldwide, 4 billion plastic bags per year end up as waste  Enough to circle the Earth 63 times

Production - Paper  Paper comes from trees  Logs are stripped of bark and chipped into small squares in debarker  Chips are placed in a pressure cooker with water and other chemicals and digested into pulp  Pulp is washed, refined and cleaned

Production - Paper  Pulp is placed in a beater and turned to slush  Slush moves down wire screen where water is drained and recycled  Crude paper sheet is squeezed between rollers to remove remaining water  Paper runs through heater dryer rollers  Paper is cut, printed, packaged, and shipped

Production - Plastic  Plastic bags are made from polyethylene  Polyethylene comes from oil refineries as small resin pellets  Plastic resin is extruded, forming a thin tube

Production - Plastic  Air enters into the tube and causes it to expand  Tube moves upward on nip rollers, which flatten the bag into double-layered film  Film is cut into sheets/rolled up

Production  It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag than a plastic bag. Safeway bagEnergy to produce bag (BTU) Paper2,500 BTU Plastic600 BTU

Pollution - Paper  Paper production involves toxic chemicals  Air and water pollution  Take up more space in landfills than plastic  Production of plastic bags requires fewer pollutants than paper bags

Pollution - Plastic  5 of the top 6 chemicals that generate the most waste are commonly used in the industry  Thousands of marine animals die annually from eating plastic bags

Recycling - Paper  Paper bags have higher recycle rate than plastic  Paper must be returned to pulp  Requires bleach and other chemicals  Recycled bags often turn into corrugated cardboard

Recycling - Plastic  Recycling involves re- melting and reforming  Bags must first be separated into type of plastic they’re made from Time consuming and expensive $4,000 per ton  Bags collected for recycling are often not recycled  Sent to other countries for incineration

Recycling  Takes 98% less energy to recycle 1 lb of plastic than 1 lb of paper  Recycling rates are low! Type of bagEnergy to recycle bag (BTU)% of bags recycled Paper1,40010 to 15 Plastic201 to 3

Biodegradable? - Paper  Paper is biodegradable  Does not completely break down in landfills

Biodegradable? - Plastic  Petroleum-based plastics are non- biodegradable  Plastic bags take up less space in the landfill than paper  2,000 plastic bags = 30 lbs  2,000 paper bags = 280 lbs

Biodegradable? - Plastic  Some stores use biodegradable plastic bags  Do not break down as quickly as believed  Require oxygen to degrade  Additives in the bags are potentially harmful to the natural world  Generate greenhouse gas emissions

Negatives of each  Paper:  Causes more pollution  Consumes more energy  Produces more waste  Plastic:  Contributes to litter  Danger to wildlife  Recycling difficulties  Not biodegradable (most)

What should we do?  Invest in reusable bags  Eliminate the use of ~1,000 disposable bags in their lifetime  Not convenient for everyone  Don’t take a bag for 1-2 items  Reuse bags to line trash cans, litter boxes, etc.

Discussion  Which bag has more negative effects?  What are other materials bags could be made from?  Other thoughts…

References    dyn/content/graphic/2007/10/03/GR html dyn/content/graphic/2007/10/03/GR html  plastic1.htm plastic1.htm   plastic-bags-may-not-be-as-eco-friendly-as-thought.html plastic-bags-may-not-be-as-eco-friendly-as-thought.html   ctices/paper_plastic.pdf?n= ctices/paper_plastic.pdf?n=8191