Paper or Plastic: What will you go for?

i'll support for paper ly.bcz its environment free.

I support paper bags.

My opinion is to opt both, depending upon the case to case basis. Ms.Jayita and others have very well explained their points for this side and Mr.Irani and others for the other side. In practice, to be frank, both are used. One can not take any side. Anything in this world has always got two sides with merits and demerits. I could not take any one side because this is a commodity which involves comfort to be liked as to which is better to one.   

I am very much agreeing with your comment, but why we always look towards Govt. and NGO. Plastic bag or Paper bag, both are required except what are you thinking to grab these product plastic or paper, if we will see so both product are not good for environment. Plastic is based on petrochemical products and paper is coming from trees, why we are not using handmade bags to carry the things.

I am not against the both thing, our use of plastic is very low as per other countries, but when I was in school so on that time generally I used to take handmade cloth bags, and that was very good and also having the artistic value, still I am having few bags, which is generally used by my family.

So, forget about these types of bags used eco-friendly bags or handmade cloth bags. And once more say that I am not against both thing but at Mumbai and Delhi severs lines/Mithi nadi/Yamuna revier is covered only with plastic bags and gutkha pouch.

Dear All

It's been less than 30 years since the introduction of the plastic bag. Experts estimate that our current use of plastic bags is 500 million to 1 trillion per year

Some plastic bags are made of a substance that is virtually indestructible. Although the bags may no longer serve a useful purpose because of rips and tears - and are thrown out or abandoned by the millions across the globe every year - the plastic itself persists.

The issue is that polyethylene - the polymer that makes up plastic - never dies. It may break into smaller pieces, right down to the individual polyethylene molecules, but it simply doesn't fully degrade.

Most plastic bags are made of polyethylene - more commonly known as polythene - they are hazardous to manufacture and are said to take up to 1,000 years to decompose on land and 450 years in water.

Plastic bags create visual pollution problems and can have harmful effects on aquatic and terrestrial animals.

There is virtually no market for recycling plastic bags. Very few recycling centers accept plastic bags because they are of little recyclable value.

Statistics show that we are consuming more and more plastics every year. It is estimated that an average individual uses around 130 plastic bags per year.

The Indian government and the plastics industry claim that India has the highest rate of plastic recovery in the world – between 40 per cent and 80 per cent of all plastics produced.

The best way to over come the menance is use paper bags. But when you talk about paper bags, the cost involved in producing papers is much higher compared to plastic bags.

Also more paper is required, that means that more trees will be cut down, and more enviornmental issues

So to curtail the above problem, we should use paper bags made from recycled papers.

Also we should Carry your own reusable bags when you go shopping.

Also we should try and use cloth bags made from scrap cloth materials

Paper bags hold more than plastic bags. One paper bag has the capacity of as many as three to four plastic bags.

We have only one planet, like plastic bags, we just cant go out and ask for a new planet. So lets be resposible and stop our plastic usage and gift this beautigul planet for future generation.

Regards

Kiran

Above is collected information

I suppot paper based packaging than the plastic. The alternative suggestion given by Arunangshu is very useful for the future. I suggest that good quality bags made of cloth, jute etc should be given to costmor and some financial benifit should be declared if he returns the bag to the shop for reuse. This will minimise packaging cost, waste of packing materials etc. This is even applicable to plastic pouches, if the menufacturer himself introduces the money back on return of pouch after use for recycle.

I go wiith paper bags.

During rainy season, I have seen in so many places road side waste water , small drainage canals got blocked due to the plastic cups, plastic bags.

 In so many places I have seen cows in a quest for food in plastic covers eat plastic covers .

I have seen so many plastic covers on both sides of rail track for kilometers, when i travelled on train .

It is the duty of Govt., local bodies, NGOs, to participate and educate common man   to solve the problem.

also paper when burnt gives more carbon emmisiions than plastic . However both can be recycled

i will go 4 paper. beco'z the plastic is not destroyable and it will affect our environment. i know use of paper also cuts the trees but we can grow the trees to maintain the ecological balance like this we can make the recycling process for the papers.

Amongst the two both are equally bad. Beause in the former you will destruct the environment because of the loss of trees and the latter will straightaway spoil the environment not just for today but for decades.

We have a better alternative to both which is safe as well as cheap than paper or plastic.

The answer is Jute. Today in the gulf most retailers are switching over to Jute. This is available in plenty, is safe and doesnt harm the environment even though it cvan be commercially grown.

I would support paper purely because plastic doesn't support sustainable development , it badly affects the food chain in the ecosystem , might it be affecting us indirectly .It pollutes our oceans , seas& beaches , around  one lakh  water animals such as dolphins , turtles, whales, penguins are killed every year due to plastic bags.Plastics are Non- biodegradable , it takes around 1000 years  for decomposition. Once the Plastic is produced , the harm is once & for all.Plastic defies any kind of attempt at disposal be it be through recycling ,burning ,or Landfilling . 

Thus its High time we shift our focus to biodegradable & renewable sources to help sustain life on earth . 

The making of paper can waste many thousands of gallons of water, as can the recycling of paper. The human and mechanical efforts and costs are very high, not forgetting the physical cost to loggers and those who work around the numerous chemicals. Plastic is, by comparison, efficient and low energy to produce, and, easily and efficiently recycled. Plastic reduces, recycles marvelously, and in that, is reused. After contrasting the efforts behind the making of paper and plastic, it is our unbiased opinion that plastic is indeed more beneficial to the environment, in that it is less harmful. The next time you are asked the dreaded question, "Paper or plastic?", you can answer knowing that you are making the informed choice.

The recycling of paper is essential in cutting down on landfills: each day, enough paper is recycled to fill a fifteen-mile long train of boxcars. When this statistic was taken in 1993, only 40 percent of paper used was being recycled. That left a lot that was thrown into landfills. By the year 2000, it is estimated that 78 percent of all paper used in the United States will be recycled, as well as 15 percent of all paper overseas.

Buying recycled paper is usually more expensive than buying virgin paper products, but the government, in an attempt to encourage recycling, presented purchasing mandates that can allow a 10 to 15 percent price premium so that it can compete with other cheaper paper products.

Another factor to consider is water pollution. The making of paper, whether virgin or recycled, uses many thousands of gallons of clean water that can soon become polluted in the papermaking process. Virgin paper creates 35 percent more water pollution than recycled paper. Recycled paper also creates 74 percent less air pollution than virgin paper. However, both types of paper can contribute to contaminating area waters. Scientific evidence shows that fish can experience adverse effects through chemicals that reside in sediment. It can more than three years for any level of toxicity to lower.

When paper is thrown away, it can go to one of two places: The landfill or the recycling center. If it goes to the landfill, it will decay in time. If it is recycled, the paper will go through a lengthy process of disintegration and renewal.

When paper first reaches the recycling center, it must be returned to the state of pulp by using many different chemicals, such as sodium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium silicate. These chemicals will bleach and disperse the pulp fibers. The fibers are then run through cleaning and screening sequences which remove any contaminants. The pulp must then be washed with clean water to remove ink particles that were removed from the paper by the chemical process.

Flotation is a widely-used method of removing the ink. The pulp is submerged in water, and heated. The ink attaches to air bubbles, which must then be removed before they break and let the ink float back to the pulp. This is a tedious process, involving a watchful eye and careful timing.

Most recycling centers will treat the water they used, and remove any contaminants. Screens and mechanical cleaners are the most common, which may let chemicals slip through. Another clean-up treatment that these centers will use is called "sludge handling". Sludge is composed of water, inks, pigments and small particles of waste. The materials are separated and cleaned. By including this process, it reduces any waste that may have to be taken to the landfill. These materials can be used in bricks and fertilizers as well as other useful products.

Paper comes from trees, and the pulpwood tree industry is large. It begins with logging, where select trees are found, marked, and felled. After they're cut, roads are built into the forest on which the large machinery, used to load and transport the timber, can be moved. This process creates a tremendous scar in the forests natural habitat(s), for both plant and animal. It can take over a century for nature to recover from even a small logging operation. Addedly, if the small operation clears only 10 acres, many hundreds of acres surrounding are affected due to the extreme interplay/interdependency in nature.

Let it be added further that a large amount of heavy machinery is used, all having its own story on how it came to be, all needing its own upkeep, and all needing its own fossil fuel, to operate. On top of this, there is the human element. Logging is dangerous. Extreme fatigue, long term physical handicaps, and numerous accidents plague the less-than-wealthy loggers.

Logs are moved from the forest to a mill. Whence they reach a mill, there is a three year wait before they can be used, allowing proper drying. When the time comes, the logs are stripped of bark, and chipped into inch-wide squares. They are stored until needed, and then cooked with tremendous heat and pressure. After this, they are are "digested" with a limestone and sulphurous acid for eight hours. The steam and moisture is vented into the outside atmosphere, and the original wood becomes pulp. For every ton of pulp made it takes over three tons of wood, initally.

The pulp is washed and bleached, both stages requiring thousands of gallons of clean water. After this, coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water to finally make paper. The pulp/water "brew" is dumped onto a web of bronze wires, the water showers through, leaving the pulp, which, in turn, is rolled into finished paper.

It must be noted that this is the paper making process. All cutting, printing, packaging, and shipping, requires additional time, labor, and energy, on top of the already exorbant amounts of capital, electricity, chemicals, and fossil fuels used.

here after the study of the recent supporters it would be difficult to support neither paper nor plastic.. but still i support paper only coz it reduces pollution as now-a-days it become a very big problem for nature` pollution causes a lot of damage in nature..

Paper can dispose but plastic canot bedisposable.

plastic increases polution on earth.

i go with paper bags,but i know that it may be problem to shop huge with paper bags on,so i think there might be some sort of fabric bags which will help us more and help us deals with environment problem.

Can we have another option? Both are equally disastrous. though their adverse impact can be minimized through 3R - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but we are yet to have an energy and cost efficient process.

I think paper bags are much better than plastic bags. Plastic bags pose a threat to marine life, because, if ingested, the bags can block the stomach and cause starvation. A lot of plastic bags & other plastic stuffs are dumped into the sea daily. This can be hazardous to the sea life. This thing is also applicable to land animals.

Sea turtles, for example, mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. Plastic bags & its derivatives are non-biodegradable in nature, thus they tend to pollute the environment. So, paper bags are preferable to plastic bags.

Hey frnds .....

It is one of the debatable topic of the future

As blood is for the body as money is for the economy as  paper/plastics for us.

We cannot forget our daily lyf wid out them. if we will see the facts of daily usage of both of them we can easily cme 2 know tht *(plastics-80-85% usage, paper-90% usage)  both of them are so imp tht we cannot deny the fact if we will stop the usage of any1 of them then we cant imagine our daily lyf.

Plastics are nonbiodegradable, harmful for enviornment as comprd to paper.

Plastics will take almost 100 yrs for gettng decomposed not fully as comprd 2 paper.Plastics emits not only greenhouse gase bt also cpollutes soil permanently.

Sulphur content, phospphorus along with polyurethane, & othr harmful gases.

it will create problem if anyone will swallow spclly wid animals lyk cows, buffalo,camels etc.

It will create choking problem, not only in human beings bt also if got trapped in sewage system.& this will lead to arise of othre harmful diseases.

If we want to burn them them then also nt possbl coz they will yield tht much harmful contect tht we cant imagine &helps in destroying ozone layer also responsible for arising temp of antartica etc.

Now if we will see the aspects of paper then  we will come to know tht usage of paper instead of plastics will also destroy forest, disturbing ecologiocal balance, along with food chain , makin land bare arising the problem of desrets , incrsing the temp of envnment etc

But the eyeing fact is this tht we can reduce all these problem if we will plant more trees , taking stern action against those ppl who destroy the forest,  incrsing awareness amon ppl.....this is not possbl in case of plastics coz if we will stsrt usage plastics then we cant elimnate these problem coz it is nonbiodegardeale & also recyling will not reduce the problem insted it will add one more dimenson to the problem by using harmful chemical for recycling them.....

Now if we will conclude then we can say tht usage of plastics are harmul than paper bt we should find out othr alternate solutions for them so tht our coming generations  will not face any problem & will not curse us for our foolish deeds.

The future of course lies in plastic made from paper or should I say cellulose.It will be biodegradable and the base matter is of course wood or biomass.                                                                                       I suppose these options will be tried out once mineral oil reserves dry up.