Paper or Plastic?
I know it is hard to imagine, but the US produces some 12 billion tons of waste each year. Of the amount, about 200 million tons consists of everyday, ordinary trash- the kind of garbage each of us throws out with no thought!
Start considering those numbers, however, and you'll never hear those seemingly bland words "paper or plastic?" in the same way again.
Food packaging- 20% of which is made of plastic- is a $105 billion industry in the US, and growing. And just because you put packaging in the recycling bin or take it to a recycling center doesn't guarantee that it will be recycled. Recycled materials must compete with non-recycled ones, and when the cost of using the former exceeds the latter, many items you think you're recycling actually end up in landfills anyways. Especially plastics.
Unfortunately, even paper has an environmental downside. To make paper bags, cardboard boxes and to-go cups, we clear-cut forests, grind the wood into chips, then pulp and bleach them with chlorine-based compounds, which generate carcinogenic by-products of their own.
The realization that even such a common, everyday option as "paper or plastic" really isn't as simple a decision as it first seems may be the beginning of wisdom.
So the proper answer to that paper vs. plastic question really is 'neither". When you head out to the market, take along your own cloth shopping bag, or start a collection of bags that can be reused rather than ones that turn into instant trash.
Start considering those numbers, however, and you'll never hear those seemingly bland words "paper or plastic?" in the same way again.
Food packaging- 20% of which is made of plastic- is a $105 billion industry in the US, and growing. And just because you put packaging in the recycling bin or take it to a recycling center doesn't guarantee that it will be recycled. Recycled materials must compete with non-recycled ones, and when the cost of using the former exceeds the latter, many items you think you're recycling actually end up in landfills anyways. Especially plastics.
Unfortunately, even paper has an environmental downside. To make paper bags, cardboard boxes and to-go cups, we clear-cut forests, grind the wood into chips, then pulp and bleach them with chlorine-based compounds, which generate carcinogenic by-products of their own.
The realization that even such a common, everyday option as "paper or plastic" really isn't as simple a decision as it first seems may be the beginning of wisdom.
So the proper answer to that paper vs. plastic question really is 'neither". When you head out to the market, take along your own cloth shopping bag, or start a collection of bags that can be reused rather than ones that turn into instant trash.
posted by Evelina @ 4:24 PM
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