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Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
- The Viking
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- Mountain Legend
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28 Sep 2010 10:43 #1
by The Viking
Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient was created by The Viking
I will stick with using plastic bags, to stay healthier, help the environment, use less water, less oil and save more trees.
Reusable Grocery Bags Breed Bacteria
Marchetta brought the lab results to Dr. Michelle Barron, the infectious disease expert at the University of Colorado Hospital.
"Wow. Wow. That is pretty impressive," said Barron.
Barron examines lab results for a living.
"Oh my goodness! This is definitely the highest count," Barron commented while looking at the bacteria count numbers.
She admitted she was shocked at what was found at the bottom of the bags.
"We're talking in the million range of bacteria," she said.
Marchetta used swabs provided by a local lab to test several grocery bags for bacteria, mold and yeast.
Three of the samples had relatively low bacteria counts, posing little risk of causing illness.
Two were in the moderate range, posing some risk, according to Barron.
Two other bags had extremely high counts -- 330,000 to nearly 1 million colonies of bacteria.
Four of the samples also had relatively high levels of yeast and mold.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25 ... etail.html
And this report has been out for a while and backed up several times. It takes almost twice as much oil and energy to make paper bags as it does plastic, and that doesnt' count all the trees that have to be cut down to make them.
Most Americans, believe paper bags are environmentally superior to plastic bags.
Unfortunately, the reality is that paper isn't better than plastic.
One hundred million new plastic grocery bags require the total energy equivalent of approximately 8300 barrels of oil for extraction of the raw materials, through manufacturing, transport, use and curbside collection of the bags. Of that, 30 percent is oil and 23 percent is natural gas actually used in the bag-the rest is fuel used along the way. That sounds like a lot until you consider that the same number of paper grocery bags use five times that much total energy. A paper grocery bag isn't just made out of trees. Manufacturing 100 million paper bags with one-third post-consumer recycled content requires petroleum energy inputs equivalent to approximately 15,100 barrels of oil plus additional inputs from other energy sources including hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and wood waste.
Making sound environmental choices is hard, especially when the product is "free," like bags at most grocery stores. When the cashier rings up a purchase and bags it in a paper bag, the consumer doesn't see that it took at least a gallon of water to produce that bag (more than 20 times the amount used to make a plastic bag), that it weighed 10 times more on the delivery truck and took up seven times as much space as a plastic bag in transit to the store, and will ultimately result in between tens and hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than a plastic bag.
http://reason.org/news/show/1003006.html
Reusable Grocery Bags Breed Bacteria
Marchetta brought the lab results to Dr. Michelle Barron, the infectious disease expert at the University of Colorado Hospital.
"Wow. Wow. That is pretty impressive," said Barron.
Barron examines lab results for a living.
"Oh my goodness! This is definitely the highest count," Barron commented while looking at the bacteria count numbers.
She admitted she was shocked at what was found at the bottom of the bags.
"We're talking in the million range of bacteria," she said.
Marchetta used swabs provided by a local lab to test several grocery bags for bacteria, mold and yeast.
Three of the samples had relatively low bacteria counts, posing little risk of causing illness.
Two were in the moderate range, posing some risk, according to Barron.
Two other bags had extremely high counts -- 330,000 to nearly 1 million colonies of bacteria.
Four of the samples also had relatively high levels of yeast and mold.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25 ... etail.html
And this report has been out for a while and backed up several times. It takes almost twice as much oil and energy to make paper bags as it does plastic, and that doesnt' count all the trees that have to be cut down to make them.
Most Americans, believe paper bags are environmentally superior to plastic bags.
Unfortunately, the reality is that paper isn't better than plastic.
One hundred million new plastic grocery bags require the total energy equivalent of approximately 8300 barrels of oil for extraction of the raw materials, through manufacturing, transport, use and curbside collection of the bags. Of that, 30 percent is oil and 23 percent is natural gas actually used in the bag-the rest is fuel used along the way. That sounds like a lot until you consider that the same number of paper grocery bags use five times that much total energy. A paper grocery bag isn't just made out of trees. Manufacturing 100 million paper bags with one-third post-consumer recycled content requires petroleum energy inputs equivalent to approximately 15,100 barrels of oil plus additional inputs from other energy sources including hydroelectric power, nuclear energy and wood waste.
Making sound environmental choices is hard, especially when the product is "free," like bags at most grocery stores. When the cashier rings up a purchase and bags it in a paper bag, the consumer doesn't see that it took at least a gallon of water to produce that bag (more than 20 times the amount used to make a plastic bag), that it weighed 10 times more on the delivery truck and took up seven times as much space as a plastic bag in transit to the store, and will ultimately result in between tens and hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than a plastic bag.
http://reason.org/news/show/1003006.html
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- Nobody that matters
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- Mountain Legend
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28 Sep 2010 10:50 #2
by Nobody that matters
"Whatever you are, be a good one." ~ Abraham Lincoln
Replied by Nobody that matters on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
A good followup question about the reusable bags would be: "Did you ever think of throwing this primitive life-form breeding ground into a washing machine?"
"Whatever you are, be a good one." ~ Abraham Lincoln
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- ScienceChic
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- Mountain Champion
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28 Sep 2010 11:16 #3
by ScienceChic
Not to mention that plastic grocery bags aren't biodegradable whereas paper ones are. But, no, neither one are "environmentally friendly" in the long run.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
Replied by ScienceChic on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
That was my first thought. It's still more sound to use re-usable bags and wash them (especially if you're carrying home unwrapped meat or produce, duh, which I'm betting that those bags that had the highest bacteria counts had had in them) then to use plastic or paper.dmcdd wrote: A good followup question about the reusable bags would be: "Did you ever think of throwing this primitive life-form breeding ground into a washing machine?"
Not to mention that plastic grocery bags aren't biodegradable whereas paper ones are. But, no, neither one are "environmentally friendly" in the long run.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
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- Martin Ent Inc
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- Mountain Legend
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28 Sep 2010 11:55 #4
by Martin Ent Inc
Replied by Martin Ent Inc on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
Paper bags suck for putting the fish you just caught in.
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- FredHayek
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- Mountain Legend
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28 Sep 2010 13:32 #5
by FredHayek
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Replied by FredHayek on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
But wouldn't washing the reusable bags defeat the "green" aspect of them? It takes a lot of water, releases soap into the water system, and the electricity to run the machine.
I prefer using the plastic bags, and reusing them as trash bags, for dog droppings, and even as an overnite bag. And declining bags when I can.
I prefer using the plastic bags, and reusing them as trash bags, for dog droppings, and even as an overnite bag. And declining bags when I can.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
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- The Dude
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- Mountain Advisor
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28 Sep 2010 13:59 #6
by The Dude
Replied by The Dude on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
I have been using reusable bags for years and have not gotten sick. Knock on wood.. But I will continue to do so. When i wash them I throw them in with the towels or a few blankets so I am not just washing the canvas bags alone.
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- Local_Historian
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28 Sep 2010 15:10 #7
by Local_Historian
Replied by Local_Historian on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
Wonder why we became such germophobes. When we were kids, some of us pulled the veggies straight out of the ground and ate them, just brushing the dirt off. Our homes were not as sterile as labs.
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- The Viking
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28 Sep 2010 15:16 #8
by The Viking
I totally agree but back then not all of our fish, chicken, and cows were shot up with drugs and other antibiotics. And all of our veggies weren't covered in pesticide like they are now a days.
Replied by The Viking on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
Local_Historian wrote: Wonder why we became such germophobes. When we were kids, some of us pulled the veggies straight out of the ground and ate them, just brushing the dirt off. Our homes were not as sterile as labs.
I totally agree but back then not all of our fish, chicken, and cows were shot up with drugs and other antibiotics. And all of our veggies weren't covered in pesticide like they are now a days.
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- FredHayek
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29 Sep 2010 19:45 #9
by FredHayek
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Replied by FredHayek on topic Plastic bags are the safest and most energy efficient
I have heard some people who believe the increase in auto-immune disorders is due to the very cleanliness now espoused.
But it does gross me out having raw chicken in a reusable grocery bag.
But it does gross me out having raw chicken in a reusable grocery bag.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
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