Plastic Bags vs the others…

You cant walk into your local supermarket or Target and expect to leave with purchased goods in a standard old plastic bag. Not any more, as everyone scrambles for environmental supremacy, bags are getting a bad name, mainly because they are plastic.

So let me give you the facts about plastic bags and their enemies the Calico, re-usuable and bio-degradable.

Plastic Bags - Used to take 20-1000 years to biodegrade, however current normal plastic bags break down in as little as three months. Before the introduction of alternative bags, we used 3.92 million bags per year in Australia, around one trillion per year worldwide. Which is a lot, when you...well compare to...what exactly?
They are re-used in many homes as means to transport lunches to work or school, store things in the home or shed etc.
Or they can be recycled into more plastic items.

Calico Bags - cheekily uses the name Calico, which is a term to describe items woven from poor quality wool fibers, but in fact most 'Calico Bags' are actually plastic woven fibers. Which is considered better because they can be used for a longer time than plastic bags. A study from Dr. Richard Summerbell research director at Toronto-based Sporometrics and former chief of medical mycology for the Ontario Ministry of Health shows that due to the re-use of the bags and their exposure to uncooked meats and vegetables, there has been a overwhelming finding of mold and bacteria in these bags after continued use, mainly due to not being washed. The readings have been found to be over 300% that of safe levels.
They dont biodegrade, to think they wont end up in landfil when they rip or become lost, is foolish. Therefore they will out live the normal plastic bags.

Re-Usable Plastic Bags - These are so similar to our current plastic bags its not funny. They are simply tougher and are believed to outlast the use of a normal bag. They biodegrade a little quicker than the plastic bags, but are still plastic and in fact, if used only once, are technically worse, as they are thicker, therefore containing more of the plastic material.

So make up your up own mind about what you wont to use, but remember that the truth is a little distorted at the least. With fashion often taking over common sense. And what ever you do, dont pay $1 per "calico" bag. As they can be easily found free, if not at least half the price.