Kid's survey for elementary school, doesn't have to be high tech answerWhich is worse for the environment, aluminum foil or plastic shopping bags, and give a simple reason for your opinionThank you for your participation!
Basically they are both badAluminum foil is less green to produce, but can be reused/ recycled (recycled at an additional cost to the environment)It's a tough question and no one knows for sureAluminum foil was the loser in nearly all the metrics Compass assesses, including fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, human health impacts, aquatic toxicity and potential for eutrophication (a kind of water pollution, caused by excessive nutrients, that can lead to fish-killing algal blooms)However, there are ways that foil can narrow those gapsReusing it is one straightforward optionAccording to Compass, if you use one piece of foil three times, it will contribute less aquatic toxicity than using three pieces of LDPE, and it just about matches the plastic on fossil-fuel usage and eutrophicationYou'd have to use that foil six times, however, before the greenhouse gas emissions and human health impacts were also comparableFoil made with recycled aluminum can reduce the impacts associated with manufacturingAluminum, unlike plastic or paper, can be recycled foreverAccording to one industry estimate, household foil already includes 25 to 40 percent pre-consumer recycled material - i.e., factory scraps and trimmings - with the rest coming from freshly mined, virgin metalThe Lantern knows of two companies, Reynolds and If You Care, that make foil with what's billed as 100 percent recycled contentIn Reynolds's case, that content is a fluctuating mix of pre-consumer and post-consumer material (i.e., metal that's already had a life as a can or a pot)If You Care foil contains only pre-consumer material.
