Paper or Plastic?

I sent this message to many friends with a link forwarded from my friend Luis:

Until America joins the other countries who have banned the use and production of plastic bags, I'm going to ban them in my own life.
Maybe you'll agree to do the same after watching this presentation.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

If enough of us refuse to accept any more plastic bags, our voices will surely be heard!

My friend Pat responded:

cloth/reusable bags are clearly the way to go, but even the EPA says paper bags aren't necessarily better for the environment than plastic: it's certainly an interesting debate.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060426235724/

http://www.epa.gov/region1/communities/shopbags.html

http://www.reason.org/commentaries/smithheisters_20080417.shtml


My reply is:

Even after only reading the first two sentences of the first link you provided, I'd still choose paper over plastic if those were the only options.

A 40% savings of energy to produce plastic over paper is not that significant in my opinion. Especially when neither would need to be produced at all if we all switched to canvas bags. And the 80% less solid waste is completely irrelevant in light of the fact that it takes 1,000 years for those plastic bags to decompose, especially considering the affects that decomposition process has on the earth. And even though it only takes a paper bag one month to decompose, why do we even need to wait that long when we could just burn it? Though that would most likely release airborn toxins I don't know about.

All in all, I'd still choose to use fabric bags instead of paper or plastic.

Thanks for the links, Pat!