Paper or Plastic?

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Paper is less likely to break if you hold it right, but on the other hand paper bags are more difficult to hold. It's a catch-22.

I realized today that I have no idea which is supposed to be the environmentally conscious choice. Plastic saves trees but paper is biodegradable!

― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The environmentally conscious choice would be to buy a reusable cloth bag and refuse plastic bags.

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The supermarket I go to abandoned paper a couple years back so I just balance the produce on my head. It doesn't always work, like if I've got an asymetrical pot roast but still, it's produce on your head.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

since when is a pot roast produce?

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Since FUCK YOU.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I got told.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Plastic all the way. Paper bags are useless; you end up having the plastic placed outside them anyway.

I reuse the bags to dispose of trash, clean out the cat's box, etc.

― Broheems (diamond), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry Huck. I...I need to switch to decaf.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Plastic, plastic, plastic. They have handles. I have stairs.

― Salmon Pink (Salmon Pink), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Nickalicious, the damage is done. I don't know if I can ever, uh, whatever our relationship was, it's irrevokably changed now.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I always get paper, but last time I went shopping I wondered which was more environmentally friendly. We re-use paper bags as kitchen garbage bags, but I don't think I'd find another use for plastic bags (kitty poop gets put in those plastic bags the newspaper gets delivered in)

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Styrofoam bags. If you're lucky, your market can give you the expensive ones that are lined with kittens. They keep your groceries warm!

― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i feel bad about asking for plastic, but when you have to haul up 4 flights of stairs (not to mention living 8 blocks from the supermarket).

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Ask Mark E. Smith...

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I have no idea which is supposed to be the environmentally conscious choice. Plastic saves trees but paper is biodegradable!

If this is a serious question, the answer is that plastic is far worse.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I bring my own bags mainly because it is easier to carry stuff in my backpack then in a bunch of plastic bags. And thanks to double bagging, a $30 shopping trip means about 8 plastic bags.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

plastic is good for future disposal of kitty poop, as I'm sure Carry Bag Man knows

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 8 April 2004 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I ususlly carry a back pack for purchases of a few items. For larger pick-ups, boxes work well for me. I can also use them for returning empty bottles and cans, or for storing stuff in the barn.

However, presently, my shrine of empties will need a dump truck or a sculptor with a solid career plan.

― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 8 April 2004 03:21 (twenty-one years ago)

The supermarkets I go to don't have that "paper or plastic" choice; it's either plastic or enter in looking like Shoplifter Candidate # 1 with those aforementioned canvas totes. I suppose we make up for it in the end by ending up with tightly packed bags -- the baggers usually go for putting as many canned goods in one bag as possible, and they will only give you more than one bag full of produce if it's not at all possible to have the produce fit in one bag. They won't bother to bag the large items, such as toilet paper, dog food, or paper towels, instead electing to just put a strip of green tape on each item to mark it as paid for. And they won't double-bag anything unless you're getting some of those huge 3-liter bottles of soda. Still, in the end, we usually end up with about six plastic bags, although we do reuse them as many times as we can.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 8 April 2004 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

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