Santiam Sentinel

Posted by Amandine on March 8, 2011 at 11:19 AM

   The plastic bag is a problem that the state of Oregon is trying to resolve by using instead the paper bags that are recyclable and reusable. The fact is that those paper bags are manufactured in the state by companies that emply thousands of Oregonians and that is not the case for the plastic bags. But why then do we use those plastic bags?

   For many years now, the plastic bag is use for everything, like your groceries or the clothing shops,... Indeed, those bags are easier -- easier to make, easier to produce. They take less space and, most important, they cost less! But their problem is that you can't recycle them easily, and we use so many of them! Have you seen, when you come back from your groceries how many plastic bags you have?! Because they are not strong enough to hold everything you've bought so the sale person don't fill them. And at the end you have a lot of platic bags and that is a waste!

   Of course, the paper bags have some inconvienience; they are less easier to transport than the plastic ones and if they get wet, they could eventually break, but they are way safer for wildlife. They decompose naturally and are made from a mix of renewable resources (trees).

   Even more interesting, Oregon has his own industries of paper bag like, International Paper (IP) which has a grocery sack manufacturing plant. There is a lot of chance that when you go to shops like Fred Meyer or Safeway,... you find the International Paper's products. That industry also generate a lot of jobs in Oregon (employs 300 persons) but with the proliferation of the plastic bags everywhere, it could be a further threat to the paper industry.

   I have some solution to add at that problem. Why couldn't we use one big, strong bag that you buy at a very low price in every shop and that you can use for all your groceries if if you want a plastic bag from the groceries you have to pay for it like 15 cents per bag. It would change a lot, people would think twice before using without counting those plastic bag.

So what is your opinion?