Plastic Bag Bans Are Bad for the Environment

Statistics you should know when people talk about banning plastic bags:

* Plastic bags generate 39 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than regular paper bags and require only 6 percent of the water necessary to make paper bags.

* Simultaneously, they consume 71 percent less energy during production than paper bags and produce one-fifth the amount of solid waste.

* Similarly, reusable bags are only more environmentally friendly than plastic bags if they are used 103 times, yet on average they are used only 51 times before they are thrown away.

* A comparison of the environmental impacts of plastic cups with paper alternatives yielded similar results, with plastic causing 50 percent less solid waste by volume.

For the complete article: Plastic Bag Bans Are Bad for the Environment