With the banning of plastic bags coming forth around the country, people justify using reusable bags or paper bags in its place because it is more eco-friendly. Of course reusable bags benefit this eco-friendly change, but the same can't be said about paper bags. People argue that it is also better to use paper bags, alongside reusable ones, because they are recyclable. However, if you take a closer look at how paper bags are manufactured and recycled, you might have a change of heart.

By now, society has some idea about why plastic bags are harmful to our environment. We know that a small percentage of people recycle them, but that leaves the majority of plastic bags to float around in landfills and drift into our waters to kill marine animals. Likewise, paper bags do just the same; causing havoc of their own on our environment.

In order to make paper bags, you first have to cut down millions of trees. "In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone" (Reusable Bags). Talk about deforestation! This process not only destroys animal habitats, but also releases tons of greenhouse gases in which those trees would have eliminated if they weren't cut down to begin with. The manufacturing of paper bags uses up four times as much energy as it does to make plastic bags. This fact contributes to the pollution that paper making adds to the environment. Toxic chemicals released by paper mills affect the air and water. Over time, the chemicals work their way into the food chain.

Paper bags may be recycled at a higher rate than plastic bags, but it also takes more energy to do so. "It takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper" (Reusable Bags). The modern day paper bag is made to have more strength and elasticity. Even if paper bags are recycled more than plastic bags, the percentage is still low over all and we are left with this new paper bag that takes longer to degrade in our landfills.

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