The Case for Reusable Shopping Bags: Are Reusable Shopping Bags REALLY Better For The Environment?

The Case for Reusable Shopping Bags: Are Reusable Shopping Bags REALLY Better For The Environment?

So you want to switch to eco-friendly, reusable, trendy shopping bags, eh? 

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Click to skip to the conclusion: I hate reading.

CONTENTS

1. What makes a bag environmentally-UNfriendly?
2. What are eco bags made out of?
3. Official Government Studies
4. Key Takeaways

Plastic Waste is EVERYWHERE.

According to a study that was reported by The Guardian, you can now find plastic waste in EVERY environment on this earth: from the tops of the highest mountains to the deepest parts of the sea, plastic garbage is pervasive. And it is having a negative impact on every single one of those environments; wildlife mistake plastic bits for food and eat them, leading to death from starvation with a stomach full of nutrient-empty plastic. It also blankets the land, making it difficult for plants to thrive. According to the study, the main pollutants were single-use plastic cups and plastic bags (generally made of HDPE).

Because of this, we’ve recently seen a large push across many governments to ban plastic grocery bags. The new trend is to switch from conventional plastic bags that we get from the supermarket to environmentally-friendly, reusable shopping bags. But that switch has also been met with considerable push-back, with several studies suggesting that reusable shopping bags might actually be WORSE for the environment than the plastic grocery bags we get from the supermarket!

• What makes eco bags bad for the environment? 
• Are reusable shopping bags actually better for the environment or are we better sticking with disposable plastic bags?
• If reusable bags really are better for the environment, how many times do we have to use them to be worth switching to? 
• Eco bags are made out of different materials! Does it matter what kind of eco bag should we buy? 

Today, we’re here to try to answer these questions and more!

What makes a bag environmentally-UNfriendly?

What does it even mean for a bag to be environmentally-friendly? Any bag has two major points in its lifespan which we have to examine to figure out how environmentally-friendly it is: 

• Production: the environmental impact of making it, transportation of materials, etc.
• Lifespan & Use: How it’s used, and for how long
• Disposal: the environmental impact of throwing it away

Depending on what kind of materials are used in producing an eco bag, the environmental impact at both ends of its lifespan can change drastically! 

What are eco bags made out of?

Eco bags can be divided broadly into 4 main categories:

Paper

• Pros: Natural, easy to produce, biodegradable
• Cons: Doesn’t last more than a few uses

Natural Fiber: Cotton Canvas/Jute/Hemp/Etc.

• Pros: Natural plant fibers, sustainable, biodegradable, washable
• Cons: Depending on the material, high quantity of water may be needed to grow, sometimes treated with lots of pesticides

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Plastics: Polypropalene (PP)/Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

• Pros: Easily and cheaply made with plastic, strong and durable, washable
• Cons: NOT biodegradable, so it presents disposal problems

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Recycled Plastics: PET

• Pros: Made from recycled PET bottles so the “manufacturing” part of the environmental impact is already over and we’re just reusing the material, strong and durable
• Cons: NOT biodegradable, so it presents disposal problems

As each material has its own pros and cons, it’s difficult to determine exactly which materials are the “best” for producing reusable shopping bags. As reusable shopping bags are still a relatively new trend, there have yet to be many published studies on the environmental impacts of them. 

Official Government Studies

The two most often cited are a study done by the U.K. government that assessed ONLY the Global Warming Potential (GWP) caused by shopping bags (it chose to ignore the other environmental waste damage done to the environment/wildlife), and another by the Danish government, which assessed both the impact on climate change and on other environmental pollution such as particulate waste matter (although it also chose to ignore the effects on wildlife).

The U.K. Government Lifecycle Analysis Study Summary

The study done by the U.K. government compared 4 types of materials: paper, LDPE, PP, and Cotton.

This study found that the environmental impact (read: impact on climate change) of all types of bags is dominated by material/resource use and production, with transport and end-of-life impact being small/negligible. It found, that in order to be better for the environment than regular grocery (HDPE) bags, you need to use each alternative…

• Paper bags: 3 times
• LDPE bags: 4 times
• PP bags: 11 times
• Cotton: 131 times

It also found, that if we assume 40% of plastic grocery bags get reused as garbage bags, then you need to use each alternative…

• Paper bags: 4 times
• LDPE bags: 5 times
• PP bags: 14 times
• Cotton: 173 times

In my personal opinion, this is a completely reasonable goal to accomplish! In my experience, using a cotton tote bag 173 times is no problem! I’m sure I’ve used mine more than that, meaning I’ve already broken even with my environmental impact and am now benefiting the environment with every use!

Again, this is ONLY looking at each material from the stand-point of effects on CLIMATE CHANGE.

The Danish Environmental Impact Study Summary

This study done by the Danish government was VERY intensive and examined many types of materials, as well as effects on climate change and various types of environmental waste impacts, and provided results for many more materials than I have mentioned here. The study determined how many times each material should be used before being disposed of, and then determined which method of disposal is the best method for the smallest environmental impact. I have selected just a few materials to illustrate here.

Material	Number of Reuses (Examining Climate change ONLY)	Number of Reuses (All environmental factors considered)	Disposal Method
Paper Bags	0	43	Use as garbage bag
LDPE Bags	1	2	Use as garbage bag
PP Bags	5-6	45-52	Use as garbage bag
PET Bags	8	84	Dispose with recyclables if possible, otherwise use as garbage bag then incinerate
Conventional Cotton Bags	52	7100	Use as garbage bag
Organic Cotton Bags	149	20000	Use as garbage bag

So, as we can see from the table, we need to use reusable shopping bags a LOT to make them more environmentally-friendly than standard grocery bags! Natural fiber bags like cotton and hemp, although great for the environment, need to be used hundreds to THOUSANDS of times to make them worth their environmental impact.

Remember: We’re Ignoring Animal Deaths Here.

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I think it’s also important to note that for many people, the destruction and death of wildlife that plastics produce are worth the extra climate damage done. The millions of animals that are killed every year are ignored in these studies, and using biodegradable natural materials to prevent animal deaths, to some people, is acceptable damage that we may be able to mitigate via other means. I personally own and use BOTH cotton bags and recycled plastic bags.

Key Takeaways

Even though there are no clear, precise numbers on which is empirically better (remember, these studies didn’t take into account the millions of animals that die every year to plastic pollution), but what is clear is that whatever you use, there are a few key takeaways:

• Whatever you use, use it as many times as you possibly can. The key to being environmentally-friendly with eco bags is to use them to death. Literally. Until you can’t use them anymore.
• DON’T buy any more if you already have some at home.  
• Use EVERYTHING as garbage bags, don’t just throw em out.
• Cotton is sustainable, better for wildlife, and biodegrades, but you have to use them A LOT (20000+ times, if organic cotton) to make up for their production impact on the environment!
• If you buy reusable bags, get ones made from recycled material if you can. It’s better for the environment to use recycled materials than to produce new materials, even if it’s plastic. The plastic was already made! Might as well use it again before throwing it away!
• If you’re going to buy cotton, skip on logos and colors, they add to the environmental impact more than you’d think.
• Make your own! You can make eco bags from old t-shirts like I did, even if you don’t have any sewing skills!

What do you guys think? Am I wrong about my recommendations? Is there something I missed? Are there newer studies that I didn’t find? What kind of eco bags do you use? Comment and let me know down below!