On Earth Day, Whole Foods set a precedent by phasing out single-use plastic bags.
Currently, the United States has an annual consumption rate of approximately 100 million plastic bags, which accounts for about 12 million barrels of oil every year.
However, Whole Foods can’t see the forest for the trees. They want to phase out plastic bags but leave paper bags as a choice for people too lazy to bring their own bags.
The natural resources required for manufacturing and distributing paper bags are staggering compared to the resources required to make plastic bags.
When paper bags are manufactured, both renewable and non-renewable resources are used.
If our current dependence on oil is the only thing Whole Foods is worried about, then absolutely, let’s stop using plastic bags immediately. If we’re talking about reducing ALL natural resource consumption, then let’s take a good hard look at the real price of paper bags.
Shipping costs are much higher with paper bags; it takes seven trucks to deliver the same quantity of paper bags contained in one truckload of plastic bags. By switching from plastic to paper we are delaying our petroleum consumption, not reducing it.
Compared to plastic, paper bags use six times as much raw material, use three times the energy for manufacture, are six times heavier for the same volume, use ten times the storage/warehousing volume, require seven times the amount of transport and associated emissions, consume three times the amount of water during production, create 90% more greenhouse emissions, create 80% more nitrogen oxide (NOx)/sulphur dioxide emissions and produce 80% more solid waste.
Logging decreases forest cover and severely damages the mountain ecology. By choosing paper instead of plastic every shopper that accepts a paper bag is increasing the demand for logging in our fragile forests. Increased logging means that more roads will be cut, more pollution will occur in the pristine areas, and more water will be used for logging operations.
Bag for bag, paper bag production uses three times the amount of water than that of plastic bag production. An increase in water usage by manufacturing plants is not a sustainable use of water in times of drought or scarcity, to say nothing of the ecology that is being systematically destroyed due to lack of seasonal influx of water.
And greenhouse gas emissions? Paper bag production contributes 90% more greenhouse emissions than plastic bag production. By creating more of a demand for paper bags, we as consumers are complicit in creating more greenhouse gases.
Consumers drive the market. If we don’t like the options presented to us we have the choice to use spending power, write letters, talk to store managers, and say that the choices that are being presented are not acceptable. Honestly, change does not have to be that difficult. Don’t buy into the spoon-fed corporate message that the retailer is seriously doing the best they can.
Whole Foods is lax in considering natural resource usage in all forms. They need to reconsider their phase-out of single-use plastic bags and add paper bags to the phase out in all 270 of its stores.
Not 100 years ago shoppers brought their own basket, bag, or cart when they went shopping. Sheer laziness, impulse buying and a longing for less personal responsibility have gotten us into the resource-consuming mess we are in today. Each person has the power to plan ahead and bring their own bag; it’s honestly not that hard.
Do the economy and the world a favor. Don’t accept paper or plastic. Reuse your bags, and when you need to buy a new one, buy one that was made locally, or at the very least, domestically.
Make a statement that you care about all natural resources, not just the underground ones.
Lara Robinson lives in Louisville.
