Paper or Plastic?

Answer 1

Plastic!!~

It's reuseable!~

Answer 2

Well I live in Florida. So Plastic! Paper bags attract bugs. And I reuse plastic bags all the time.

Answer 3

Environmentalists, bag manufacturers and garbage specialists have all wondered the same thing, but they come up with different answers.

Plastic bags "end up in landfills, or on roadsides, or in lakes and streams, where they prove quite a hazard to wildlife, who choke on the bags," says Anna Peterson, co-chair of the Sustainable Consumption Committee of the Sierra Club, and a professor of environmental ethics at the University of Florida.

"The bags are like balloons," she explains. "Especially if there are crumbs in there. A raccoon might smell peanut butter and swallow the bag along with the crumbs."
But plastic-bag manufacturers and garbage experts say that in the long run, plastic wins over paper.

"Paper bags are easier to recycle, but they weigh 10 times as much," says Robert Bateman of Roplast Industries, a bag manufacturer. "They use more energy and cause more waste in the process of manufacturing."

A paper bag eats up almost three times as much energy in the manufacturing process, says Bateman, who's also a past president of the Plastic Bag Association.

That's not something usually emphasized by environmentalists trying to reduce plastic use.

"Plastic bags come out on the right side of the equation on everything except the recycling side," Bateman says.

Is paper better?
Ask a professor specializing in garbage whether paper is better than plastic, and he'll say the equation is relatively easy to solve.

"The answer is very simple and very straightforward," says garbologist Bill Rathje, a fellow at the Archaeology Center of Stanford University and director of The Garbage Project, and a leading authority on what is in America's garbage.

"It's not one that the paper-bag people like to hear. In a dry landfill, paper bags don't degrade any faster than plastic bags. In a normal, well-run landfill, paper bags do not biodegrade any faster over at least 40 years than plastic."

The problem with paper is that it's fatter, he explains.

"Paper bags are much bulkier than plastic, so they fill up more landfill space," Rathje says. "They're three to five times bulkier than plastic, and you can see that yourself at the grocery. Landfills are closing down because they're full. From that perspective, plastic is much better than paper."

Answer 4

They both have their place and use. They both use depleting materials to make. Most paper and plastic can be recycled. use the paper when you can and use plastic when needed.

Answer 5

i like plastic

Answer 6

Plastic cause you can recycle it.

Answer 7

paper. holds more and actually breaks down.

Answer 8

plastic...

Answer 9

sure...paper

Answer 10

paper............u can burn it without dieing from its fumes