Paper bag, cloth bag & Co: How environmentally friendly are shopping helpers?
The plastic bag, which lands directly in the bin after returning from the supermarket, is frowned upon as the environmental sin of our time. But where should I transport my purchases instead? There are many alternatives? from the paper bag to the cloth bag. But do these shopping assistants actually have a better eco-balance than the disposable plastic bag?
The "bad" disposable plastic bag
A conventional plastic bag is often only a few minutes in use. It is bought, used for shopping and then thrown away. The problem: The practical shopping helpers are made of petroleum, an increasingly scarce resource. Besides, do they need centuries to rot? depending on the type of plastic between 100 and 500 years.
Thrown away bags thus burden the environment. In the sea, the grated plastic waste not only pollutes the water and pollutes the wildlife, it also gets into the food chain and on our plates. Clearly: There must be other shopping helpers! But how environmentally friendly are supposedly better alternatives really?
The paper bag
Anyone who wants to avoid plastic, often reaches for the paper bag in the supermarket spontaneously. This is finally made from biodegradable and renewable materials. However, it is not environmentally friendly. Because their production consumes almost twice as much energy as the production of a conventional plastic bag. In addition, the pulp fibers are treated with many toxic chemicals.
In order for paper bags to be able to compete with plastic bags in terms of environmental compatibility, I have to use them at least twice. This could be difficult, however, because the paper bag does not exactly score with good reusability: it is neither particularly tear-resistant, nor does it keep water off.
The "organic" plastic bag
So you prefer plastic? After all, there are now bags in the supermarket, where a bio-label promises me a better life cycle assessment. The plastic bags will then meet at least one of the following two conditions: they are either mostly made of better biodegradable materials? or they were made from renewable resources such as corn and sugarcane.
How environmentally friendly such bags are, but is controversial. It is problematic, for example, that supposedly biodegradable bags do not simply decompose on the compost, but only disintegrate under very specific conditions. In addition, the cultivation of renewable raw materials for organic bags pollutes the environment and occupies arable land on which food would otherwise grow. At present, the German Environmental Aid does not see any significant advantage over conventional plastic bags.
The cloth bag
Cotton cotton bags are not automatically more environmentally friendly than plastic or paper bags. Their production consumes a lot of water and cotton grows mostly in regions where this resource is already tight. In addition, cotton growing requires many pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
Another critical factor is that comparatively high emissions are released during production: While about 60 grams of carbon dioxide are emitted in the production of a paper bag and about 120 grams of the greenhouse gas in a plastic bag made of virgin granules, the figure for a cotton bag is even 1,700 grams.
Nevertheless, the fabric bag has a decisive advantage: I can easily use it again and again. If I use it at least twenty times, the cotton bag has a better eco-balance than the disposable plastic bag. Better of course, I use them much more often.
Reuse the main thing
This also applies to all other bags: The more I use them, the better for the environment. In addition to carrier bags made of cotton or jute, robust reusable plastic bags are also suitable for many years of shopping pleasure.
"From a environmental point of view, cloth bags and other reusable containers perform significantly better than all kinds of disposable bags, which often tear too fast and no longer fulfill their purpose," says the Federal Environment Agency. Buy now 
reisenthel carrybag black Einschlaufsbok 48 x 29 x 28 cm, 22 Liter 39.95? 34,64 ?
