Which type of Grocery Bag is the most Environmentally Friendly?

Which type of Grocery Bag (shopping bag) is the most Environmentally Friendly? 

This is not a simple choice. Each of the below grocery or shopping bag options has its own problems. The choice will boil down to whether you want to prevent global warming or prevent plastic pollution. Plastic pollution despite being a very visual problem, is a small problem compared to global warming. 

Conclusion: The most important factor with a shopping bag / grocery bag is that is is reusable. You should look for a bag that will last a long time, and is easy to make. This is unlikely to be a paper bag, they do not last very long. There is no problem with plastic bag provided it is re-used multiple times, and recycled at the end of use.

Plastic or paper? 

Paper is better right? No not really. A life cycle comparison conducted by NASA (you know rocket scientists), have shown that  really there is little to pick between paper or plastic in terms of environmental credibility. Below image courtesy of NASA. 

Bag for Life?

A very simple "bag for life" option for a super market may well be a very good option, a 20c / 10p heavy duty plastic carrier bags will last for perhaps 100 uses and is very easy to make and recycle. 

But even with reusable bag you have to be careful with you choice.  Some heavily made reusable bags such as cotton totes bags have to be used 1000's of times before they are better than a normal plastic grocery bag. Why is this? . . .

It is because normal plastic grocery or shopping bag is very quick and easy to make. A complicated fancy looking bag for life is complicated to make, you need to grow cotton, wash the cotton, feed the workers, spin the cotton, weave the cloth, stitch the bag together, transport the bags in trucks. Each of these stages produces CO2 and a complicated bag will produce a lot more CO2 than a simple one. 

The best option might be to reuse a bog standard carrier bag. Just make sure you dispose of it properly. 

Compostable?

A compostable plastic carrier bag is an excellent choice if you actually intend to compost it at home in you well managed compost heap. But is is not a good choice if it ends up in the normal rubbish bin, or mixed with normal bags for recycling. 

No Bag

Perhaps the best option is no bag at all. But this only works for just a few items. But if you are wearing a coat, why not put the stuff in your pockets. 

Card Board Box

Many stores provide a used cardboard box, in which to put groceries. Provided this is recycled or composted after use, this might also be a good option.

In Depth 

The below table comes from a report published by the Environment Agency of UK. It shows the number of times you have to reuse a carrier bag, for it to become comparable with a certain alternative.

A conventional HDPE bag is very easy to make, and creates little environmental impact. Re-use for best option. A paper bag would have to be used 3 times to be comparable. But I doubt you would be able to re-use a paer bag 3 times. An LDPE bag need only be used 4 times to be comparable, it is entirely feasible that an LDPE bag could be reused 4 times, and as such this is the best option.

Below is a table showing the types of bag, so as to avoid confusion regarding types.

Based on the CO2 footprint of manufacture the below graph is derived. This is just one part of the life cycle analysis that was carried out.

Environmental Consultants London


ESDM Report

Why can't single-use plastic items be recycled?

Why can't single-use plastic items be recycled?

Some single use plastic items can be recycled, but not all of them. It depends on the type of plastic, and whether facilities exist to recycle it the plastic if it is indeed a variety which can be recycled.

Types of Single Use Plastics

There are 6 types of plastic, all of them can be recycled but not all are. There is a 7th type of plastic but it is really a group of plastics, which nobody can be bothered to name individually.

From the above list types 1 and 2 are likely the most commonly recycled. And as such you should always try to use single use plastics that are PET or HDPE, as generally there are option for getting these recycled.

Facilities to Recycle Single Use Plastics

In the UK PET and HDPE are recycled by 92% of councils. So if for example you have just finished some bottled water (PET), take the bottle home and put it in your recycling bin, and it will get recycled. 

As for nearly all other packaging it can be taken back to the shop where you bought it. When shopping at Tesco for example, if you find that your microwave meal tray is not recyclable, then take it back to the store . . . if everybody did this the problem would disappear over night. 

Keep it Simple

As a final point do not buy single use plastic packaging that is "stuck together" with multiple types of other material. The below image shows some shampoo, image is from 666 Alert.

 

In this packaging there is at least 2 type of material that are not needed. The box, and the film "window" both will require seperation, before you even get the the bottles in side, which you can not even see to check they are recyclable!

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Recycling Plastcis

It is apparent that the low density of plastic is a problem, tins and cans can be squashed down and a) The stay squashed, and b) They are made of a dense material. BUT plastic is springy and low density, and always wants to return to its original shape, this is a problem, would it not be possible to shrink the plastic using heat? When you throw a crisp packet on the fire it shrivels right up to practically nothing before it starts to burn, would this concept work with the of a HDPE milk container? Why not reuse plastic bottles for something, you could fill them full of recycled aggregate and use them in Gambian style boxes? Or why not switch to glass and run a deposit scheme?


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Reuse is THE BEST form of recycling

LATS no longer required?: Is the LATS scheme counterproductive? Just like giving householders a big bin, this gives district councils the option to fill a given space. Landfill tax on its own should be enough to halt the flow of waste to landfill, and is already having a big effect.

In Germany they have a system whereby it is banned to place bio degradable material in a landfill site, this is a great idea, why not force people to just “do it”. You could ponce around with taxes like the UK but no Germany wallop. Done. The level of domestic sorting that occurs in Germany also impressed me, they have four bins, and their compost bins and vented to prevent anaerobic decomposition. Aerobic means in the presence of air, so by allowing air in (as I understand it) it stops the anaerobic process before I t begins.

In California, re-use is more acceptable. Re use in the States is not frowned upon like it is in the UK. So why is this? Well the Brits are a stuck up bunch of @55es We seem to have been suckered by commercialism, lost our way in the fog of cheap consumer goods and cheap credit. Perhaps now we can have a better crack at showing a little backbone. (Now we can’t get drastic with the plastic (credit cards))

Reuse is THE BEST form of recycling as it occurs so high up the “chain”. If people, bought stuff from recycling centers this would help, resale points at CAs should be compulsory! How would the reuse of building materials fit in with building regulations, the LPA are so specific with what they will allow. I should imagine the use of structural recycled material would be frowned upon whilst cosmetic stuff would be more acceptable.

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Environmental Consultants Exeter

Civil Amenity Sites reselling

Civil Amenity Sites are very good; I find them a real resource the one nearest to where I live is a small-scale compost only service. The full scale one in Taunton (20 miles away!) has all of the facilities except a re-selling point, which really is the best bit! Where I used to work in Devon they had a reselling point, where you could buy a cycle for £10 or a fridge for £10 in fact the fridge in our kitchen is one that came from there and it is still sweet as a nut two years on. (Top tip on buying a second hand fridge is look at the temperature dial inside, if it’s turned right up then the fridge has probably had it). Does reselling cause extra footfall? It’s like a bit of an attraction surely?

One of the condensing options was compaction, in to smaller units each weighing 12 tons . . . . . if you can put twenty tons in a lorry (articulated) without compacting it. What's the point? Loads of money spent on compaction equipment for no reason! Very annoying.

Sometimes when I go up to London I have stopped to watch the barges travelling to and fro with their load of waste, I learnt today that they are loaded at Wandsworth and make their journey from there . . . but where do they go? FIND OUT And . . .

“Cory Environmental, the largest barge operator on the Thames, transports over 600,000 tonnes of London's household waste each year, removing around 400 lorry movements and their associated pollution, from London's streets every day." (20/12/09 http://www.thamesweb.com/page.php?page_id=70&topic_id=14) Goes on to say that the rubbish is taken to Mucking in Essex.