I was thinking about grocery bags this afternoon, don't ask why I'm not sure, but I was wondering about which option is really the best for the environment… Plastic bags are, well plastic, and disposable plastic is a bad idea. Paper bags weigh more, so have a higher cost to transport from manufacture to stores, but they do not have much else bad about them, and they decompose better than anything else. Reusable bags really don't get reused very much. How much reuse justifies the environmental cost of making them, cotton ones for example have a big environment impact. Plant based plastic bags seem to be more and more available all the time, I don't really know much about them, lots have a compostable logo on them but are they really?

Best kind of shopping bags

Julie Brooks-Girskiene

I was thinking about grocery bags this afternoon, don't ask why I'm not sure, but I was wondering about which option is really the best for the environment…

Plastic bags are, well plastic, and disposable plastic is a bad idea.
Paper bags weigh more, so have a higher cost to transport from manufacture to stores, but they do not have much else bad about them, and they decompose better than anything else.
Reusable bags really don't get reused very much. How much reuse justifies the environmental cost of making them, cotton ones for example have a big environment impact.
Plant based plastic bags seem to be more and more available all the time, I don't really know much about them, lots have a compostable logo on them but are they really?

Piri

Actually I can't really choose…. I agree with the points. It is true that paper bags and reusable cotton bags are not so friendly

Treebeard

To me it is paper.

They are reusable, and then they are recyclable, and if they end up in trash not recycling they are organic so should biodegrade at some time.

Ash

I would say paper bags considering that it is actually widely available at different places to use and it's not as harmful to the environment as the previously used bags like plastic and reusable ones.

Julie Brooks-Girskiene

I'm voting paper as well, especially for small individual things. Bigger reusable canvas bag with decent straps and handles are definitely something that we need as well though.

Mirmar

If they work like they are supposed and do break up quickly then plant based plastic.

Piri

Mirmar If they work like they are supposed and do break up quickly then plant based plastic.

There are some starch based.

Julie Brooks-Girskiene

Mirmar If they work like they are supposed and do break up quickly then plant based plastic.

Do they need to be disposed of in a special way or do you just put them in a compost pile, or in normal garbage.

I remember reading a big story about how people are putting them in the plastic recycling bins and then they contaminate the whole batch of recycled plastic and it becomes useless.

I am Ashlynn

Reusable bags with nice fabric and something interesting on them. Make a fashion statement while you sustainably shop 🙂

Vilte

Paper bags feels like stepping back in time. Many of the things that we did just 3 or 4 generations ago were much more sustainable than the way we do them in the last half a century.

Piri

Vilte Paper bags feels like stepping back in time. Many of the things that we did just 3 or 4 generations ago were much more sustainable than the way we do them in the last half a century.

It is true. And old is new fashionable thing 😉

There are some statistics how many times you should use a different material shopping bag to keep it as much as possible sustainable, while paper bags usually are not used so many times it kind of makes it not so sustainable. In another hand cotton as well. Probably the recycled material is the best, but not in manufacturing way, just in simple repurposed way.

Vilte

Piri It is true. And old is new fashionable thing 😉

That's good, it means I am fashionable for the first time in a long while. 😃

Julie Brooks-Girskiene

Piri It is true. And old is new fashionable thing 😉

There is a reason that a lot of old things are still around today (like @Vilte ), it's because they were better engineered, made of stronger materials and not designed to fail. Going back to that has to be a good thing.

John

Julie Brooks-Girskiene I remember reading a big story about how people are putting them in the plastic recycling bins and then they contaminate the whole batch of recycled plastic and it becomes useless.

I've read about that as well, and I think it has become quite a bit problem. Unless you have someone actually physically looking at each bag before it goes into the recycling machines, which is of course completely impractical then this is a potential issue.

People really need to learn to pay attention to what they put in which bins, which would solve that problem.

Maybe there is some other solution for this that I don't know about though.

Vilte

Julie Brooks-Girskiene There is a reason that a lot of old things are still around today (like @Vilte )

Just… Wow 😤

Annie Brooks

I like paper bags but I don't trust them so much after a couple of experiences of something leaking and then the bottom dropping out, so now I usually go for the reusable cotton kind.

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