Recycle your plastic grocery bags at Baesler's
An Answer to the Age-Old Question: Paper or Plastic?
- March 2008

While there is an ongoing debate about whether you should choose paper or plastic bags at the grocery, most environmentalists agree that both have a serious negative impact on the planet. Paper bags are, of course, made from trees, and they require a tremendous amount of fossil fuel and produce a tremendous amount of waste in processing. Plastic is a by-product of oil refining and uses about 4 percent of the world's oil production. The process of making plastic bags requires electricity, more than half of which is generated by nuclear power plants, which involves disposal of radioactive waste.

The majority of paper and plastic bags will eventually end up in landfills, which these days are designed to be air and water tight, allowing virtually nothing to biodegrade for thousands of years. In landfills, all plastics make up 18 percent of waste by volume and seven percent by weight, whereas paper is the item most frequently found, accounting for more than 40 percent of the contents.

Both paper and plastic bags can be reused or recycled, but the problem is making this attractive and easy enough that consumers will actually take the trouble to do it. Here are some ways you can use bags:

Paper - Reuse them for trashcan liners, craft projects, weed barriers in your garden and landscaping, on your compost pile or to hold newspapers going to the recycler. Cut them down to wrap packages for mailing or make scrap paper. Use them as cushioning when packing glassware or dishes.

Plastic - Many people use plastic bags for trashcan liners as well. Crafty people weave them into rugs or baskets. You can put your crushed tin cans and plastic bottles in them for recycling. Use two of them as disposable gloves for handling grimy projects or for picking up waste when walking the dog. Similarly, scoop dirtied cat litter into them for disposal. Take a supply along with you when you go to garage sales and flea markets to carry home your purchases.

Unfortunately, the number of people who can or who do take the trouble to reuse paper or plastic bags is small compared to the millions of people who acquire paper or plastic bags every time they go to the grocery. Many of the suggested uses will result in them going to the landfill anyway. And how many plastic bag rugs or paper bag craft projects can you possibly use?

When you recycle used paper, paper mills use it to make new newsprint, notebook paper, paper grocery bags, corrugated boxes, envelopes, magazines, and cartons. Recycled paper is also used to make things you many not have thought of, such as animal bedding, compost, kitty litter, and insulation. And while recycling a paper bag is better than sending it to a landfill, the process does consume large amounts of fuel and chemicals.

The Progressive Bag Alliance says plastic bags are 100 percent recyclable and claims that it takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. The Alliance advocates a national at-store plastic bag recycling program that would bring the recycling solution to everyone and increase the number of bags that actually are recycled.

In conjunction with Supervalu's plastic recycling program, plastic bags recycled at Baesler's Market, at 29th and Poplar in Terre Haute, will not go into a landfill but will actually be recycled into useful products. For example, a new plastic recycling bin will soon be in use in the store's lobby, which is made entirely from recycled plastic grocery bags. The bin will use a special bag for collection purposes, will be monitored by Baesler's personnel and the bags collected will be sent to a recycling facility.

Store owner Bob Baesler is also installing a park bench made from recycled plastic grocery bags outside the store and is providing two additional benches to the Terre Haute Parks and Recreation Department. A plaque on each bench will let people know that it was produced from 3,900 recycled grocery bags!

In addition to providing a viable program for recycling plastic bags, Baesler's offers a 5-cents-a-bag credit for customers who bring back their plastic and paper bags for reuse on subsequent shopping trips.