Plastic v Paper It’s easy to point a finger at plastic and blame it for many of the world’s environmental problems, but we should remember that plastic has the potential to be good when used properly. When the plastic bag was introduced over 60 years ago, hopes were high that it would make a significant environmental contribution as plastic embodied progress and convenience. It was designed to replace the paper bag that was thought to be harming the planet – plastic was to be ‘nature’s saviour’, introduced to protect natural resources and save the trees. We have learnt a lot about paper and plastic since the 60s, and the answer as to which is greener is not so clear cut. Still, some retailers are replacing plastic packaging with paper or cardboard to reduce their carbon footprint. For example, UK supermarkets are replacing plastic trays with cardboard for some of their meat packs while parts of the US are replacing wine cans with paper. But is paper the greener option? Investigating the environmental benefits of ‘plastic vs paper’ reveals a range of calculations explaining why one material is greener than the other. For example, one way of evaluating which material is best for your business is to compare its carbon footprint, and a calculation by CO2everything.com indicates that single-use plastic has the lowest. However, these calculations are based on many changing factors, including where a product is made, what fuels the energy system uses, and how far it travels to reach its end destination. For this reason, the carbon footprint of any individual product is variable. The numbers provided by CO2everything.com are the overall representations of carbon footprint to give context about what is generally higher or lower, not individual calculations for your own individual situation. Contrastingly, the Northern Ireland Assembly compared the environmental impact of plastic, paper, and cloth bags, and found that it takes over four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag than a plastic one. They compared water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste production, and risk of litter, among other factors. When the plastic bag was introduced over 60 years ago, hopes were high that it would make a significant environmental contribution as plastic embodied progress and convenience. Finance Monthly. Business 57
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