I know how bad Plastic Shopping Bags! But, are Paper Shopping Bags acctually any better?
Cloth is the best way to go. Both paper and plastic have cons to using them. However, some stores, mostly health food stores are not using an environmentally friendly biodegradable plastic bag. I still feel that using cloth is much better than these, because there would be less manufacture and transport involved, but if more stores switched it could make a huge impact.
Paper is better than plastic for the environment, because it does not stay in our land fills for years. and allot of the paper bags are made out of recyclable paper. However if you are really conscience about the environment you would not use either, you can get reusable shopping bags or cloth bags for next to nothing and they are much easier to carrier your groceries in, also you can use them for all sorts of other reasons. If you forget them you could also opt to not have your items baged at all, most store will let you with the receipt.
Plastic bags can be used numerous times and then recycled. Paper bags can be recycled too, but were banned decades ago to save trees. Funny thing is, it turns out that the more paper we use the more trees are planted. So either type is environmentally safe as long as you try to recycle as much as possible. Most people prefer plastic bags because paper bags get wet and tear. That's what they used in the 60's before plastic. They also use paper bags in movies because hollywood is so out of touch with reality.
Plastic, I can re use a plastic bag. I've had the same 4 re-usable bags for over 2 years now and they are still going strong, like to see a paper one do that. I would prefer a natural fibre one, but have you seen what shops charge for those? My girlfriend tells me paper bags take a lot more energy to produce too
I really think everyone should just carry a few reusable bags in their car. If you buy the ones at most grocery stores for 99 cents, they usually pay you 5 cents each time you use it, so in a few weeks or months you break even. If you have to use a bag paper is marginally better, most are made from virgin paper, Whole foods has found a way to make a recycled paper bag. But ultimately it will return to nature. Plastic bags are made from petroleum. The fact that they are light weight, means you have to use many of them and they fly away easily. We use billions of them every year, few are recycled and millions of them become litter. They are harmful to wildlife both on land and on the water. You can find plastic bags floating miles off the coast. So, I have reusable bags for everything including produce. I have virtually eliminated plastic bags in my life.
