Paper Bags or Plastic Bags? – A Brief Review

Plastics are one of the most widely and abundant substances in today's society. Worldwide the usage of low-density polyethylene bags create pollution on land and in the oceans, especially when they break down in macro and micro plastics. On all continents, governments try to establish solutions on how to fight plastic pollution form shopping bags by banning their use, implant fees for their usage and replace plastic bags with a more renewable material. Paper bags are a valid solution, especially when manufactured from recycled materials. It is estimated, that In the United States, enough material is available to cover the replacement of the 100 billion plastic bags uses yearly with 100% recycled paper bags.

The required investment is roughly 6 billion dollars for new paper machines and mills, creating up to 10,000 new jobs in states where the paper machines would be installed and operated.