"Paper, Plastic or Neither"

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Plastic bags are gradually being banned not only in the Philippines, but according to the article, so are municipalities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Honolulu in the United States. Manufacturers of plastic bags (in the U.S. at least) are now hiring environmental scientists who could still establish the case for the use of this thing pertained to as one of the great contributors to pollution. 

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Today, in the Philippines, in place of plastic bags, paper bags and reusable ones are being offered in shops, grocery stores, malls, even in fast-food chains and restaurants. The article mentions however, that these reusable bags actually “require more energy to make”. Come to think of it however, if every individual would diligently bring their reusable bags every time they step out of their houses and use them for their purchases, then the production of these “eco bags” could significantly be less than the amount of plastic bags being produced. To add to that, plastic bags take hundreds of years before they disintegrate, while most, people could only use once. The shift to paper bags and eco bags felt like a hassle the first time; but people are now slowly getting the hang of it. They become even more enticing to use, what with the different colours they could come in. We cannot stop global warming or climate change anymore. But we can still do, even little steps (especially done collectively), to somehow mitigate its effects.

Source:

Pickert, K. (2014, January 20). Paper, plastic or neither. Time, 183(2), 11.