Eco-Impact of Plastic and Paper Shopping Bags

Abstract

This article describes the study of the eco-impact of plastic and paper bags using the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) technique under three different options: usage and disposal criteria with the existing usage behavior to reuse and governmental policies to recycle (option1), usage and disposal criteria as per consumers’ perceptions if systems are in place (option2) and usage and disposal criteria in case of absence of recycling systems (option3). The first stage, which was the baseline for other options, comprised of the study of the eco-impact of plastic and paper bags in the manufacturing phase, without considering the usage and disposal phases. LCIA was performed by the Eco-indicator 99, a damage oriented method for LCIA in SIMAPRO 7.1. The single score values calculated by the Eco-indicator'99 were considered as a directive to compare the environmental impact made by plastic and paper bags and a detailed explanation of the results is provided in this article. The next stage was the study of the eco-impact of these bags including their usage and disposal phases. This was undertaken with the three different options as stated above and the results derived were compared with the results derived from the baseline study, which is the main focus of the study under discussion. The values for usage and end-of-life phases were obtained from the questionnaire survey of different user groups of shopping bags in China, Hong Kong and India. The results of this study show that the eco-impact of plastic and paper bags was very high if there were no usage and disposal options provided. When the eco-impact values from options of existing possibilities and consumers’ perception were compared, the eco-impact value was lower in option 1 in all the three countries for both types of bags, which is mainly attributed to the fact that in option 1, a higher percentage of reuse is preferred to recycle and disposal to landfill categories. Also the eco-impact of these two types of bags was studied with and without the presence of recycling systems in China, India and Hong Kong, where the eco-impact was lower due to the presence of recycling systems. The results indicate that a higher percentage of reuse could significantly trim down the eco-impact of plastic and paper bags. Consumers’ perceptions and usage behaviors in connection with respective government's policies and implementation of recycling systems could be highly decisive in reducing the eco-impact of plastic and paper shopping bags.

Environmental impact of express food delivery in China: the role of personal consumption choice

“…It should also be mentioned that although paper had a smaller carbon footprint than plastic for the same weight, the packages made of paper would be heavier than the same-size plastic packages. Thus, using paper food packages instead of plastic packages would not help to reduce the EIs (Muthu et al 2012 ; Roach 2003 ), which is shown in our results.…”

“…Thus, using paper food packages instead of Fig. 5 Average proportions of possibly reducible CO 2 equivalents caused by food delivery and food package for all the food orders, and the orders in the first-class, second-class, and third-class cities plastic packages would not help to reduce the EIs (Muthu et al 2012;Roach 2003), which is shown in our results.…”

Studies, Efforts and Investigations on Various Aspects of Solid Waste Management with Emphasis on Developing Countries

“…Even many other civic bodies are banning plastic use. Studies show that increase in reuse of plastic can reduce the eco-impact of plastic to a great extent [1]. In developing countries, blockage of drainage due to plastic causes calamities such as flood.…”

Screening and Biochemical Characterization of PHB Producing Bacterium Isolated from Costal Region of Andhra Pradesh

“…Industrial growth and anthropogenic development over the past century have continuously increased the dependency of humans on plastics. Packaging material, building and construction, transportation, medical and health, electrical and electronics, agriculture, sports and leisure products are some of the many ways in which human population utilize plastics [1][2][3][4]. Enormous amounts of waste, which is difficult to decompose, and green house gases are generated by both the production and after life remediation of plastics, which cause various kinds of health hazard problems in humans [5].…”