Paper vs Plastic free essay sample

Versus Plastic Bags Every day in this country, people are given the choice of paper or plastic before exiting the supermarket. Although most of those same people would agree that neither is necessarily the best choice, the decision between paper or plastic bags is commonly made without the knowledge of the differences between them. While paper bags and plastic bags serve the same purpose, there are many important differences concerning consumption, production, pollution, recyclability, and biodegradability. The rate at which consumers use plastic and paper bags is alarming, and worth thoughtful consideration. Americans consume more than 20 billion paper bags (28 million trees) and more than 100 billion plastic bags each year; enough bags that if â€Å"tied end to end, could circle the Earth 63 times! † (The Washington Post; â€Å"More Than Meets the Eye†) The average family of four uses 1,460 plastic bags each year. â€Å"Experts estimate that 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are consumed and discarded annually worldwide – more than a million per minute! † (Larry West; â€Å"Paper, Plastic, or Something Better? ) Because of the enormous amount of plastic bags handed out, many communities have decided to ban them altogether. We will write a custom essay sample on Paper vs Plastic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This has resulted in the increase in paper bag use in those communities. In the production of both paper and plastic bags, valuable natural resources are used. â€Å"Paper comes from trees that have to be grown or found, then marked and felled. After a three-year wait for the logs to dry, they are stripped of bark and then chipped into one-inch squares. The chips are cooked with heat and pressure, and then digested with limestone and sulfurous acid until the wood becomes pulp. The pulp is then washed using thousands of gallons of fresh water and bleach before pressed into finished paper. † (The Washington Post; â€Å"More Than Meets the Eye†) The machines required in producing the paper bags use fossil fuel to operate. Plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which comes from oil refineries as small resin pellets, which is heated to about 340 degrees to be melted down to form the bags. The production of â€Å"plastic bags uses more fossil fuel and raw material energy, and consumes larger amounts of crude oil and natural gas than paper bags do. (Reuseit. com; â€Å"Myth: Paper is Better Than Plastic†) However, it requires 594 BTU’s (BTU + British thermal unit) to manufacture a plastic bag, whereas it requires a staggering 2,511 BTU’s to manufacture a paper bag! (The Washington Post; â€Å"More Than Meets the Eye†) There is a significant amount of pollution produced by the manufacturing of both plastic bags and paper bags. In the production of both products, the use of toxic chemicals contributes to air pollution, such as acid rain, and water pollution. The production of paper bags generates 70 percent more air pollutants and 50 percent more water pollutants than the production of plastic bags. † (The Washington Post; â€Å"More Than Meets the Eye†) However, the toxic chemicals used in the production of plastic are frightening. â€Å"In an EPA ranking of chemicals that generate the most hazardous waste, five of the top six were commonly used by the plastic industry. † (The Washington Post; â€Å"More Than Meets the Eye†)