How many times have you been to a grocery store in the Fargo-Moorhead area and been asked this question? Would you like paper or plastic? You quickly try and figure out what the “correct” answer is so you can do your part to help the environment.

Plastic, you have heard, can take 500-1000 years to break down in a landfill. While sitting in the landfill, if it’s not caught in the wind first, animals may ingest it or get caught up in it and that leads to more problems. IF recycled, bags can be melted and reformed in to products such as plastic lumber used on decks, fence material, park benches and other industrial and residential goods.

Paper, on the other hand, costs more to produce than plastic. Aside from the resources (chemicals, electricity, fossil fuels) it takes to make and ship paper bags, the production of one paper bag consumes one gallon of water, equating to 50 times that of plastic bags. You can recycle paper bags in your back yard as an effective weed barrier under top soil, and it will break down much faster than it would in a landfill. Or if it’s recycled, it goes through a similar process that it was created from initially.

Both paper and plastic bags consume large amounts of natural resources and the majority will eventually end up in the landfill. Paper may consume more resources to produce, however, it is also more recyclable than plastic, if you consider the fact that paper can be composted and plastic bags cannot. Either way, there are so many uses for each type of bag that you should try and get as much use out of each of them, before you toss them in the trash.

The best option is not to have to be asked the question at all. If you really want to do what’s best for the environment, purchase your own re-usable bags. Place them on the front seat of your car so that you remember to grab them before heading in to the store. You’ll be amazed at how much they can fit in one of those bags and you’ll have less trips back and forth to the car once you get home. As an added bonus, I know that Hornbacher’s, in the Fargo-Moorhead area, will pay you 5cents for each reusable bag that you bring in to pack your groceries in so they really do pay for themselves in no time!

So, which will it be? Paper, plastic or neither? The choice is up to you!