Plastic grocery bags have replaced the common paper bag as the most used method for carrying the weekly food purchased from the store.
Grocery stores prefer plastic as it costs only twenty five percent of what it would cost to make a paper sack.
And it saves trees, doesn't it? Reusable cloth bags are the best alternative to paper and plastic.
They can be used over again and provide a stronger bag for carrying home the valuable food for the family.
The United States cuts approximately nine hundred billion trees each year to supply pulp for paper.
Paper is used for many thing including grocery bags.
Recycled paper is a good source for grocery bags, as the paper does not possess the necessary strength to carry heavier food items.
One advantage paper has over plastic, however, is the capability to degrade in the landfill.
Plastic bags were introduced in the early 1980s as a replacement for paper and the prospect of saving trees.
Plastic bags can be recycled and used to manufacture other items such as chairs.
It is estimated that one hundred billion plastic bags are used annually in the United States and about five hundred billion worldwide.
But are plastic bags a better alternative to paper? It is true that plastic bags will reduce the cutting down of trees.
It is also true that the number of bags used in the United States requires twelve million barrels of petroleum for manufacturing.
This can be problematic.
More important, plastic bags discarded into the landfill require more than a thousand years to decompose.
During the process, plastic continues to leech toxic chemicals into the environment.
The advantage of plastic over paper is negated without recycling.
A more important issue to the landfill is that plastic grocery bags are also discarded everywhere.
They can be found on the ground and water where they pose a threat to wildlife.
Birds, small rodents and aquatic animals can become trapped and suffocate in the plastic bags.
Each year more than one million plastic bags will never reach the landfill.
Cloth bags are the new fashion to going green.
Reusable bags can be made from sturdy cotton, polyesters or nylon.
People can purchase the reusable bags directly from the grocery or simply make their own.
Cloth bags are the new grocery bag that help save the environment and protect animal wildlife and trees.
The grocery store also approves as reusable sacks save money there as well.