By John Steinbach

Paper Bags? Plastic? Or ...

It’s THE BIG QUESTION confronting you at the supermarket checkout counter, isn’t it: paper or plastic? And it seems so silly, too, since whichever bag you choose will only be needed for the few minutes it takes to get your groceries home. But there it is. You must decide. Paper or plastic? Grassroots Green has some thoughts that may make your choice a little easier.

Let’s start with a look at paper bags. You’d certainly think they’re more “environmental” than plastic. The truth is, though, it takes about four times as much energy to produce a paper bag as it does a plastic bag. And paper-bag production leaves us with more air and water pollution. Then there’s the matter of disposal. Bury paper bags in a landfill, and they just won’t decompose for lack of oxygen and sunshine.

So, plastic’s better, right? In a word, no. It takes fossil fuel to make plastic bags. The estimate is that over 12 million barrels of our precious oil reserves are used to produce all the plastic bags consumed in the United States every year. And talk about environmental impact: when disposed of, plastic bags add to unsightly litter, entangle and choke wildlife and decompose so slowly — in about a thousand years — that they’ve got plenty of time to pollute streams and rivers as they break down.

Okay. We’ve pretty much nixed paper and plastic as choices. What’s left? How about bringing a bag of your own — one you can use over and over again: a cloth tote bag, an insulated grocery sack or those fancy little bags that hook on your purse, for instance? We think the best choice is the Grassroots Green bag.

Another option, if you simply have to go with a plastic bag, is to reuse it time and again. That saves resources. Wal-Mart recycles plastic bags. Something else you can do to help the environment is to recycle. Paper bags can be recycled at curbside or other drop-off points.

When you get down to it, the best choice is to just say no to bags at the checkout and bring your own.