Sustainability of eco-friendly bags

Plastic waste is increasing at an alarming rate. This is one of the major environmental concern in present time. Environmentalist and nature lovers have always opposed the use of these plastics. Nature friendly shopping bags are now in trend to reduce the use of plastics. There are many advantages of these reusable bags over plastic bags, some of those include:

they are easy to degrade, hence generate less waste
they can be reused, hence lesser resource utilisation and also pocket friendly
they have better strength and are more durable
they are not toxic for marine species as plastics are
they come in variety of colour and are considered fashionable

Are you one among those, who prefer eco-friendly items over toxic ones? If you love your planet, you might hate using plastics and prefer using biological substitutes over them. This is something every human should choose. But, do you think just choosing environmental friendly products is enough?, What about the re-usability of these bags, these bags are intended for. Just favouring planet friendly items without optimally using them is not enough.

Let me first give you an insight about the toxicity of these plastic, cotton, and paper bags, so that as an aware citizen you can make your own choice.

Plastic bags

Plastic bags are generally considered 'strictly no' considering the fact plastics are non-biodegradable. Globally, billion tonnes of plastic is discarded after single use, which ultimately ends up in landfills, or oceans. This ultimately impacts the endangered marine species, corals, and wildlife badly. From impacting tourism, to causing cancer, birth defects, diabetes, heart diseases, infertility in humans; the plastics is dangerous for us. Plastics can be recycled, but huge portion of plastics which is 91% is not recycled [1]. This says a lot about various movements came in opposition of single-use-plastics.

Paper bags

Paper is considered eco-friendly because of its biodegradable property. But the reality is, paper is not as sustainable and eco-friendly as we think. Production of paper is more resource intensive. It requires 4 times more water and emits 3.1 times more greenhouse gases than plastic does [2]. Moreover, paper generation demands for forest clearing. A paper bag needs to be reused at least 43 times to have same environmental impact as plastic bag does. Yes, 43 times in comparison to single use of plastic bags [3]. And contrary, paper bags are generally not reused after single use.

Cotton bags

Cotton bags are biodegradable and can be reused multiple time. They are better in strength and are more durable. But the environmental footprint of cotton is very high, considering the fact they have very high carbon and water footprint. Studies suggest, the carbon footprint for an average cotton bag is roughly 270 kg Co2 equivalents whereas the plastic bags has an emission of about 1.5 kg CO2 equivalent [4]. This is not it, about 20,000 Litres of water is consumed in 1 kg of cotton production. Considering the weight of cotton bag as 200 gms, an average cotton bag can consume 4,ooo litres of water. Cotton bags must be used about 7100 times to match the environmental impact of normal plastic bag used single time. That suggests, you should consider reusing your cotton bags as much as possible to promote sustainability.

Organic Cotton

Organic Cotton is considered more eco-friendly since it is grown from natural seeds, without using pesticides and harmful chemicals. But overall environmental impacts are very high because of very high carbon and water footprint. Organic cotton is more resource intensive than traditional cotton, since organic cotton has 30% lower yield. Hence it requires more land and water than traditional cotton. To match the environmental impact of organic cotton bag with plastic bags, organic cotton bags must be reused 21000 times. Yes, that means if you have one of these bags, you should reuse it as much as possible.

No. of reuses necessary for different category of bags to match the same environmental impacts that plastic bags do

What should I choose then?

Now knowing about the environmental impacts of plastics, paper, and cotton bags; you might be confused what you should choose. To have least environmental impact, my foremost suggestion is to reduce your resource utilisation. Minimal resources have lesser impact on our planet. Let's understand further, about sustainability of shopping bags to reduce your environmental footprints:

I strongly suggest to buy according to your needs rather than your luxury. The same goes with shopping bags also. Try reusing your shopping bags as much as possible.
You can place your shopping bag inside your vehicle (e.g. car or bike) or inside your office bags or inside your normal handbags. So that you don't forget carrying it, whenever you go out.
If you are using plastic bags, and if you feel you cannot reuse it, try discarding your bags in the recycling centres
Avoid using paper bags, as they have high environmental impacts and lesser re usability property
If you have cotton bags or organic cotton bags, try carrying it everywhere, so that you don't buy another one
Spread this message to your friends and family members. This will definitely reduce huge environmental footprint and also will make you a 'Earth Saviour'

That's it, by just following these pointers, you are saving our planet by generating lesser waste and utilizing minimum resources

References

Environment

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