Youth Action Coalition

Last year, SF finalized a ban on plastic bags in grocery stores and pharmacies…will San Jose take the same route? How effective will this really be? And finally, if and when will San Jose place a ban on both plastic AND paper bags?

Here’s an article I co-wrote for the opinion section of my school’s newspaper. (Although it seems to advocate the use of paper bags, I’d like to elucidate the fact that CLOTH BAGS ARE THE WAY TO GO!)

The next time you go to a grocery store, you may have one less decision to make. “Paper or plastic,” a question that we’re so accustomed to hearing, may soon be an utterance of the past.

San Jose city officials are considering a ban on plastic bags in all major grocery stores. The question now is how much of an effect this decision will actually have on the environment and the lives of residents.

The ban has drawn concerns from plastic bag advocates who believe that people will become more careless with recycling.

However, such a ban has good intentions and many benefits. For example, paper bags are more environmentally sound than plastic bags. They can decompose and the materials derived from the process can be used in products such as fertilizer. Plastic bags, on the other hand, are made from petroleum and are usually thrown into landfills where they take thousands of years to break down, all the while emitting harmful chemicals into the environment.

There are organizations, such as the Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers, that acquire, reprocess and sell the byproduct of post-consumer plastics in several countries, but post-consumer paper recycling is better for the environment. According to www.worldcentric.org, producing recycled paper products causes 74 percent less air pollution 35 percent less water pollution than producing recycled plastic ones. It saves old-growth trees, forest eco-systems, native habitat and biodiversity.

Because plastic comes from oil, producing plastic bags also requires oil drilling. Not only is this an environmental concern, but it also is an economic and social issue since oil is quickly being depleted. Manufacturing plastic bags also requires electricity generated by nuclear fission, a process that releases harmful radioactive waste that often cannot be disposed.

A more effective option would be the use of cloth bags that customers could reuse. This seems like a lofty goal, but over time it could be achieved. However, presently the use of paper bags is the most viable option.

Both paper and plastic bags have harmful effects, but the use of paper bags is a safer environmental practice. The ban of plastic in San Jose could positively affect our world, so even if the proposition isn’t put into effect, consumers should make an effort to lessen their plastic use. Next time you’re asked “paper or plastic,” do the environment a favor and choose paper.

And lastly, check out this video about “green” construction (I couldn’t figure out how to embed it): Commercial builders catch \”green\” fever

Enjoy.