California coalition issues report on single use vs. reusable bags

Green Cities California, a coalition of 10 California cities collaborating to help other local governments work toward sustainability initiatives, has released a report summarizing existing studies on the environmental impacts of single use plastic, paper, compostable and reusable bags, as well as the impacts of policy options such as fees and bans on bags.

The report includes studies that reviewed environmental impacts -- greenhouse gas emissions, litter problems, marine life impacts, water consumption and ozone formation -- from the use of the four types of bags:

• Single-Use Plastic Bags: Nearly 20 billion single-use high density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic grocery bags are used annually in California; most end up in landfills or as litter. Of the four types of bags considered, plastic bags had the greatest impact on litter.
• Single-Use Paper Bags: Although paper bags have a much higher recycling rate than plastic bags, a paper bag has significantly larger greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and more air pollution, water consumption, and ozone production over its lifetime.
• Single-Use Biodegradable Bags: Biodegradable bags have greater environmental impacts at manufacture, resulting in more GHG emissions and water consumption than conventional plastic bags. In addition, biodegradable bags may degrade only under composting conditions. Therefore, when littered, they will have a similar impact on aesthetics and marine life as HDPE plastic bags.
• Reusable Bags: Reusable bags are designed to be used up to hundreds of times. Assuming the bags are reused at least a few times, reusable bags have significantly lower environmental impacts, on a per use basis, than single-use bags. Some of the reviewed LCAs indicate that use of the non-woven plastic reusable bag results in particularly large environmental benefits.

"We're not going to recycle our way to a sustainable society," said Dean Kubani, GCC Steering Committee member and director of Santa Monica's Office of Sustainability. "We need to orient away from single use and towards durable products. We are confident that this report will provide the documentation local governments need to adopt policies that encourage the use of reusable bags and phase out single use bags." See the full report at greencitiescalifornia.org/mea.

[Source: Waste & Recycling News in May 2010 WasteWatch]

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