The problem of choice between plastic and paper bags is old indeed. At shops, people are usually asked “Paper or Plastic?”; at special institutions, researchers spend much time and effort to prove that one type of bag is more environmentally friendly than the other. This necessity of choice is evident indeed; still, there is no certain answer to this dilemma. In fact, both, plastic and paper, bags have a considerable impact on the environment.
The ecologists all over the world share their views on how to save nature, overcome the threats of global warming and ablation, and protect the environment against human activities in general. And governments, in their turn, take numerous legal steps to support the solution of the environmental problem caused by human activities. However, these two sectors do not pay much attention to the fact that even such small things like paper or plastic bags can influence the environment.
Though such countries like Italy, Ireland, China, or South Africa have already approved the legislative acts prohibiting or limiting the use of plastic bags, their activities are not enough for people to realize what type of bags, plastic or paper, are more dangerous for them as well as for the environment they have to live within.
There is a tendency to exaggerate the effects produced by plastic bags on the environment in comparison with paper bags. Among such factors like slow decomposition, energy-consuming production, pollution of the environment, marine life in particular, and not biodegradable nature of plastic bags prove the harmful nature of the product; but the same factors and harmful effects may be applied to paper bags.
The evaluation of all these factors, processes, and even the economic issue should be made to define less harmful material for people to rely on. Though the production of plastic bags is frequently banned nowadays because of considerable harm to the animal world and marine life, the effects of this product on people and the environment seem to be less harmful than those of paper bags; therefore, it is necessary to develop some new approaches to plastic bags’ production and utilization and provide people with clear instructions on how to benefit from plastic bags and make them less harmful to nature.
Background Information
The historical overview of the use of plastic bags shows that people have been utilizing plastic or paper products for a long period regularly. Nowadays, it is hard to imagine everyday life and shopping without plastic or paper bags. People just cannot stop using them or find a better alternative. Though paper bags are currently implemented as a less harmful alternative of plastic bags because paper bags are made from biodegrading and renewable sources, their price and even actual quality are not that appropriate for ordinary people.
Over the last years, a limitation of plastic bags’ usage turns out to be a focus of the ecologists’ efforts in the field of environmental protection. There is a widely spread opinion that plastic bags may be one of the main sources of environmental contamination. During the production process, a huge amount of repugnant substances is evolved. Moreover, plastic bags’ decomposition is very slow, and the utilization process causes certain irreparable environmental damage.
Post time: Dec-19-2021