Upset
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Paper or Plastic? Let me get this straight....

So now I have to buy Hefty bags for my trash since the supermarket wont give me plastic grocery bags.

This from National Geographic website:

Plastic Bags

A major advantage of plastic bags is that, when compared to other types of shopping bags, producing them carries the lowest environmental toll. The thin, plastic grocery store bags are most commonly made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Although production of these bags does use resources like petroleum, it results in less carbon emissions, waste, and harmful byproducts than cotton or paper bag production. Plastic bags are also relatively sturdy and reusable. Many of the studies about different bagging options that show plastic bags production demands less resources assume plastic bags are used at least twice—once coming home and once as a trash bag—and factor this into the calculations about which bags are more sustainable.

And then it says, while paper is biodegradable, it takes more energy to produce...

But Wait !!

We'd be using the plastic grocery bags for both carting and discarding....and I'm willing to bet the hefty bags I buy are far worse for the environment than the plastic grocery bags

In short - this is a stupid thing and as usual we are further screwed every day by the idiots that overthink and create policies...instead of letting us try to do well for ourselves.
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ArishMell · 70-79, M
Indeed - the policies are made by politicians and business managers with little or no science and engineering knowledge, to please campaigners with even less!

All this "plastic is evil" stuff shows that so well. Plastics themselves are NOT the problem. The problems come from poor use (e.g. as the "micro-beads" in cosmetics and toiletries) and careless disposal (litter, uncontrolled waste-tipping, poor or no salvage).

Anyway, "plastics" are a huge range of materials , so which type of plastic, and in what physical form?
fun4us2b · M
@ArishMell What a mess...
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@fun4us2b Quite so!