PAPER OR PLASTIC? NEITHER! GO GREEN WITH REUSABLE BAGS!

Planted on June 5, 2008

By Cole Cheney

The phrase "paper or plastic?" is on the way out. In the last 5 years, the effects of consumer activism and new retail options spiked an increase in reusable grocery bag sales. Providing consumer benefits like small store rebates for bag usage and overall sturdiness while concurrently decreasing the amount of plastics in public and landfills, the target buyer varies from the practical to the fashionable.

Ranging from small $0.99 hemp tote bags to $20 briefcase-size polypropethene carriers, to $900 designer containers, the grocery store accessories display an attempt by shoppers and stores alike to form a more eco-friendly shopping experience. Starting around 2002, stores around the Midwest including Hy-Vee, Wal-Greens, Dahl's, Wal-Mart and Target began providing their own take on "green" lifestyle items. Logos on the multicolored bags include "ReUse*Reduce", "Bring Your Own Bag" and "This Bag Is Green" and cost between $0.99 and $1.50. In-store locations include massive racks in some and hidden shelves in others and provide an alternative to their standard papers and plastics.

Dubbed the "urban tumbleweed", plastic bags retain a special disdain among the environmentally alert. With only 1%-2% of the 100 billion shopping bags used every year finding recycle bins in the United States, national landscapes and garbage dumps pay the price, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) figures. This eyesore is only the beginning; plastic bags typically break down in 1000 years, decomposing in a process that spreads toxic particles throughout the surrounding air, water and land.

Paper bags hardly compensate for the downfalls of plastic. Requiring four times the amount of energy as plastic to create and generating 70% more air pollutants than the already dangerously toxic plastic bags, paper sacks provide no safe alternative, according to Californians Against Waste research.

Reusable bags, on the other hand, carry a heftier grocery load and smaller environmental burden. Only 11 uses of a single eco-friendly bag provide less of an environmental hardship than 11 plastic sacks and can perform in their lifetime the same amount of work as 150 plastic sacks, according to Wal-Mart studies. Currently, Hy-Vee leads the pack on the eco-friendly endeavor among Midwest retail.

"We didn't so much hop on the train as provide the engine," said Chris Friesleben, Hy-Vee's Midwest Director of Communication. "Hy-Vee wanted to provide consumers with a way to decrease their resource consumption while shopping. The only problem we had with the process was selling out of the bags too quickly."

Claiming that Hy-Vee's effort to offer the bags sparked competitor interest to follow the trend, Friesleben acknowledges that while plastics and papers still dominate marketplace packaging, most major changes start slowly. Even proponents of the billion-dollar plastic industry see a shift.

"I can see the use of un-degradable plastic bags nearly gone within 5 years," said Barry Stormer, President of Bagbarn.com, a wholesale packaging company. Stormer claims that while stores currently make “green” attempts, they still consistently pursue plastics for their lower costs. Coming off the last trend of biodegradable plastics, Stormer still holds skepticism toward any lasting popularity of the newer reusable bags.

Criticism also arises about the legitimacy of the reusable bags. Though widely available, the corporate intent with the bags may be less than environmentally cognizant.

"I see a lot of mass market stores selling poor-quality and sweatshop-made bags with a recycle sign stamped on them," said West Des Moines native and self-proclaimed “green shopper”, Claire Schnucker, age 16. "True ‘green’ reusable bags come from Fair Trade and Co-op stores that understand that the creation, use and disposal steps of the bags that are healthy for the environment."

Founder and President of Reusablebags.com, Vincent Cobb agrees with the Schnucker’s concern over of corporate "green washing". Starting his website in 2003 to inform consumers of environmental dangers and provide them with simple solutions, Cobb finds that the "band wagon" companies do prevent plastic and paper litter, but at a less-than-desirable cost.

"Most of these bigger companies are in on the 'gimmick-de-jour' with unreliable reusable bags while simultaneously providing plastic and paper bags without hesitation or penalty," Cobb said.

After observing international trends of “plasi-taxation”, a $.05 to $.20 levy on each plastic bag used, Cobb realized that the United States lagged in this aspect of environmental consciousness. He acknowledged that the use of poor packaging materials will never be eradicated, yet believes that an informed America would take "greener" steps when available.

"Plastic bans don't work. And pseudo-reusable bags are a start. But its time to make the full quantum leap to mainstream use of dependable and eco-friendly bags," Cobb said.