Which is more environmentally friendly for paper bags and plastic bags?

Shopping bags, paper, or plastic? When we go shopping in the supermarket every time, we may ask ourselves such questions. Because paper bags and plastic bags have their own advantages and disadvantages to the environment, even some environmentalists are confused about this simple choice. Experts say that the raw material for paper bags is wood and the raw material for plastic bags is crude oil. In order to produce the shopping bags Americans use each year, manufacturers need to use 14 million trees, or 12 million barrels of oil. The air pollution caused by the production of paper bags is 70% higher than the production of plastic bags.

However, plastic bags are difficult to degrade naturally once they are produced. They can exist for hundreds or even thousands of years. Because plastic bags are cheaper to produce, grocery stores generally choose them. But San Francisco is limiting consumers to use plastic bags. From April this year, the city will only allow biodegradable plastic bags or recycled paper bags. Biodegradable plastic bags can break down in months instead of hundreds of years. Whether it is a paper bag or a plastic bag, environmental protection advocates are the same: they should be recycled. They further pointed out that the best option, of course, is to use cloth bags and always bring their own bags.