When you go shopping at the supermarket, what kinds of bags do you use to carry your items? At present, there are three types of shopping bags: cotton bags, paper bags, and plastic bags. Which kind of bag used in the supermarket is the best alternative? In response to this problem, we need to consider how these bags are produced, the advantages and disadvantages of these bags during use, and the harm to the environment during production and after use.
The Production of Shopping Bags
Cotton bags are prepared from natural cotton only, and they need to go through several steps to produce. The first step is to weave the cotton into thread. The next step is to use a sewing machine to weave the thread into fabric, which can be cut into all sorts of sizes to sew the finished bags.
Paper bags are made of paper pulp. The preferred preparation for paper bag production is deforestation. Then large quantities of wood are made into pulp, which is pressed into paper sheets by professional equipment. Different sizes of paper sheets are eventually bonded together to produce a bag that can hold something.
The production of plastic bags also goes through several complex processes. Typically, they are made of various polymers and other additives. For example, polyethylene plastic is a polymer of ethylene monomer. The raw materials for production are petroleum, coke oven gas, or alcohol. This is the manufacture of traditional plastics, and that of degradable plastics that have emerged now is different and advanced. Various conventional plastic materials and degradable additives are used to create bags through film-blowing machines. Once the bags have been formed, they can be customized with printing to meet the specific requirements of the customers.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Shopping Bags During Use
These three different materials bags have their advantages and disadvantages in the process of use. Let’s take a closer look.
Made of fabric, the bearing capacity of cotton bags is very strong. Also, they are characterized by their ease of folding for storage. So that they are loved by people when shopping. However, they are not waterproof and oilproof, resulting in easily wet and dirty results. If you happen to have a rainy day, you are not recommended to carry a cotton bag for shopping.
Compared with the other two kinds of bags, paper bags are relatively light. The raw material of paper bags is wood pulp, and it is safer if the food comes into direct contact with these bags. These bags, like cloth bags, are not waterproof or oil-proof and are very easy to get wet and dirty. Although these bags are lightweight, they are not easily folded into smaller shapes because they are usually made thicker.
In addition to the advantages of easy folding and strong carrying capacity as cotton bags, plastic bags have the outstanding advantage of easy tearing. However, the easy-to-tear property may cause the bags to tear holes. For the smell of plastic bags, we will find that the smell of bags with different ingredients is different. Made of petroleum and other non-renewable resources, traditional plastic bags have a bad smell. Whereas the biodegradable and compostable bags, made of starch and cellulose, have a sweet smell and softer texture.
Environmental Impact During Production and After Use
As environmental problems become more serious, we are increasingly concerned about sustainable development. When you are shopping at the supermarket, you will pay more attention to the shopping bags that you are carrying. So what is the environmental impact of using different types of shopping bags?
As we all know, cotton bags can be reused many times, and they should be the most environmentally friendly. But is this the case? In truth, cotton, the raw material of bags, is a crop that requires a lot of pesticides to keep pests at bay. Using large amounts of pesticides will pollute the water quality and cause acid-base imbalance or compaction of the soil. Not only that, pesticides will also pass through the biological chain into the animal body and even into the human body. Therefore, the harm of cotton to the ecosystem should not be underestimated.
When discussing bag manufacturing above, it was mentioned that deforestation is the primary preparation for paper bag manufacturing. The source of paper bags’ raw material is a large intake of natural resources, which leads to the reduction of biodiversity. Once the biodiversity is reduced, it will result in ecosystem imbalance.
When it comes to plastic bags, we may think of their impact on the environment as white pollution. Single-use plastic bags are thrown away rather than recycled so a large number of discarded plastic bags can be seen everywhere on the land. Even biodegradable bags can cause some harm to the environment. Their raw materials come from biomass like starch and cellulose, which are the key materials in different fields. In addition, biodegradable plastics need specific conditions to degrade. If they are not exposed to certain heat, light, and microorganisms, they will degrade very slowly and cannot completely degrade into carbon dioxide and water in a short time. So their adverse effects on the environment are not substantially different from traditional plastics.
Conclusion
We do not have a definitive answer to the question of which bag is the best to use at the supermarket. Each type of bag has its advantages and disadvantages. For manufacturers, it is necessary to consider not only the market share of the product but also production costs and other factors. For consumers, they are more concerned about convenience and practicality. In the face of increasingly serious environmental problems, we strongly recommend that everyone use biodegradable and compostable shopping bags as much as possible to contribute to reducing environmental pollution.
