Plastic shopping bags are no longer provided at shops, many of us have got used to ‘bring our own bags’ but sometimes we forget or are doing an unexpected trip, we then have the option to buy a paper shopping bag at the checkout.
Paper usage is growing at high levels. It’s considered a better alternative to Plastic bags and ideal for purchases where we don’t have our own carry bags.
In Australia 1 billion paper bags are consumed each year. The increasing demand for paper has led to a rapid development of the paper industry. Globally, about 4 billion trees per year are cut down for paper production. What impact does that industry have on the environment?
Pros:
Paper bags are ‘Biodegradable’, they degrade naturally returning nutrients to the soil, produce fertilisers, can be buried in the soil without contaminating it, don’t leave any toxic waste. (Although in landfills they break down into methane, a greenhouse gas.)
Paper is a strong material, can support weight, can be reused a few times.
It’s made from a renewable resource: can be recycled, grocery paper bags are often made from recycled paper collected and processed at a recycling paper factory.
Cons:
Deforestation:
The big environmental problem we are facing these days.
Trees are necessary to provide cellulose fibres for pulp, paper and packaging production, our consumption requires billions of trees to be cut down increasing the rate of deforestation globally.
Worldwide deforestation is estimated to be responsible for about 12% of greenhouse gas emissions.
(There are some 'Managed Forests’: planting new seedlings where trees have been harvested. How long it takes for a tree to grow for paper making depends on many factors, generally Pine trees can take 30-40 years, Eucalyptus under 10 years.)
Water consumption
Huge water consumption and discharge of toxic wastewater:
It takes between 2 and 13 litres of water to make one A4 sheet of paper, depending on the mill.
A huge amount of toxic wastewater is discharged from each step of the paper making process, and goes through rigorous treatment stages before being discharged into waterways.
Energy consumption
The whole process of paper making consumes large amount of energy, ranking 4th as the largest industrial energy user worldwide.
Polluting gases
Nitrogen dioxide, Sulfur dioxide, Carbon dioxide are harmful gases released into the atmosphere during the paper making process.
Limited Recycling
Cannot be recycled more than 5-7 times because the fibres no longer stick to each other.
Consumers awareness
As consumers we can be more aware of the impact of using paper and take steps to reduce paper waste:
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Buy recycled paper products,
reduce amount of paper copies, note paper and so on..
go digital to store documents..
use digital version of books..
