There’s so many debates around the use of plastic bags, most of the debates say how environmentally unfriendly it is. Even though we see the use of plastic bags almost everywhere, there are many times when we have heard how harmful it is for the environment. Some commercial stores even choose to use paper bags over giving out plastic bags to their customers. It is not just limited to plastic bags anymore, using paper or bamboo straws and other “nature friendly” products to replace the daily plastic made products is slowly becoming popular in many places. At this point some even consider it as “trendy” to go environmentally friendly by not using plastic bags.

The new debate starts here, how does using plastic bags can be helpful to the environment as well?

Plastic bags were introduced around the 1970's as an environmentally friendly, convenient option for consumers. The increasing use of it became such a part of our daily lives, even now plastic bags are a common option for someone’s daily grocery shopping. But over the years we have also become aware of its major problems-

We now have some better options like biodegradable plastic bags like polythene bags, bags made out of recycled wastes etc. But due to the cheap production value, plastic bags are still commonly used and consumers still use plastic bags as an easy choice. 

There’s also paper bags that are slowly becoming popular in use. But here’s the catch, even though paper bags seem like a better choice for the environment, the production cost of it is a lot more than plastic bags. The production of plastic bags tends to less amount of energy and raw materials than paper bags. Plastic bags use more oil and gas that are more harmful for the environment and contribute to creating greenhouse gases. On the other hand, paper bags use a lot more natural resources and energy than plastic bags. Regarding durability, plastic bags are stronger than paper bags as well.

So what should be the right choice? Many countries are banning plastic bag usage, but is that the only solution?

Reuse. Reuse. Reuse. 

You have been handed a plastic bag at a store, but you can’t refuse it because the store has no other options. So you use the plastic bag smartly and try to use it as many times as you can. Use the one plastic bag for multiple grocery trips.

Of course if there are biodegradable plastic bags available, you should use those bags, you can even recycle the plastic bags. In the end, it's on us if we are harming the environment with our choices of using the product. But remember, plastic bags may not be an environmentally friendly option, but we need to be smart as consumers to learn how to use it well so that we don’t harm our environment.