Research has shown that the environmental footprint of consuming plastic bags is actually smaller than that of any other sustainable alternative. The sheer size of paper compared to plastic is a cause for concern, as "2,000 plastic bags weigh about 30lbs, while 2,000 paper bags weigh around 280lbs"(Lerner 39). The additional environmental damage caused by transportation, storage, and even disposal or recycling of this increased mass must be taken into consideration. Additionally, while it appears that only 1% of plastic bags are recycled, research has shown that only about "20%" of paper bags are recycled ("Be natural"). By looking at the numbers above, one comes to the conclusion that paper bags would contribute about 7.5 times more to the amount of garbage in landfills than plastic bags do now. In addition, studies done by the "University of Arizona" show us that the time required for paper to biodegrade in our landfills is significantly more than expected ("Be natural"). If you combine this information with the fact that plastic bags use "40% less energy" and "use less than 4% of the water required for manufacture," than paper we come to the conclusion that paper bags are just not an acceptable alternative to plastic (Lerner 39).
The concern about our over use of plastic bags is overstated in comparison with other environmentally damaging aspects of our daily life; things like driving our cars to pick up groceries or go to work have a much bigger impact on the environment than does using plastic bags. Studies have shown that the energy consumed in the production, manufacturing process, and transportation of a standard shopping bag is "0.48 MJ;" while the "fuel consumed by driving a car 1 km is 4.18 MJ," and a semi truck/trailer uses "31MJ" per kilometer ("Plastic" 41). By looking at these figures we can see that every kilometer spent taking the bus or walking would save the equivalent amount of energy as 17.4 single uses of plastic bags. These statistics combined with the earlier comparison between the weights of plastic and paper bags show us that the switch to paper bags would use 258MJ more energy than an equal number of plastic bags per kilometer; In addition, the equivalent size and amount of cloth bags raises this number to 617MJ ("Plastic" 47). For reference experts state that "A megajoule (MJ) is approximately equal to the energy required to heat three litres(sic) of water from 20C to boiling point" ("Plastic" 41). (all calculations based on 1000:1000 ratios)
