Atlantic Poly Blog

Plastic bags get a bad wrap, but in actuality plastic bags are more “green” than paper bags. Using a recycled plastic bag brings that even a step further. A plastic bag made from recycled plastic means that there is a blend of recycled resin and virgin resin.

There are no 100% recycled plastic bags because the bag would have no integrity. It wouldn’t be very strong.  At Atlantic Poly we have recycled plastic bags. These recycled bags are normally made with a blend of 30% Recycled resin and 70% Virgin resin.

What is the recycled blend made of? It is made of post industrial scrap and post consumer scrap. From the names you can probably hazard a pretty good guess as to what they are but here is an explanation. Post Industrial Scrap is plastic collected from industrial and manufacturing facilities. Post Consumer Scrap is collected primarily from the retail/consumer market.

If you are interested in using recycled plastic bags at your business, do not hesitate to ask for a recycled logo to be added to the bag. Showing your company’s commitment to green business practices can go a long way. For information on recycled plastic bags, contact Atlantic Poly.

If you own or manage a grocery store, you may be frustrated with the perception of "paper, not plastic". Maybe it is time that you began educating your consumers about the differences between paper and plastic grocery bags.

Studies sponsored by independent retailers or governments generally agree that plastic bags consume less water and energy, and produce less pollution, including greenhouse-gas emissions than paper. There is a popular misconception that paper bags are more environmentally friendly than plastic bags.

Issue 1: Energy and natural resources
According to a 2007 study, it takes almost four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a polyethylene bag.

Not only do both paper and compostable resin bags use far more fossil fuel in production and manufacturing, but they also use twenty times more fresh water than plastic bags.

Additionally, most paper comes from tree pulp, so the impact of paper bag production on forests is enormous. An article from the National Cooperative Grocers Association states that each year the United States consumes 10 billion paper grocery bags, requiring 14 million trees.

Issue 2: Pollution
Paper bag production delivers a global warming double-whammy; forests which are the largest absorbers of greenhouse gases have to be cut down, and then the subsequent manufacturing of bags produces greenhouse gases.

The majority of kraft paper is made by heating wood chips under pressure at high temperatures in a chemical solution. As evidenced by the unmistakable stench commonly associated with paper mills, the use of these toxic chemicals contributes to both air pollution, such as acid rain, and water pollution.

Issue 3: Recycling
Studies indicate it takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper. But recycling rates of either type of disposable bag are extremely low.

Issue 4: Degradability
Many people choose paper over plastic because they believe it will biodegrade faster than plastic will break down in a landfill. However, there are a number of factors that determine how quickly, if at all, paper degrades – this includes temperature, pH, the type of bacteria present and the form of paper (shredded paper degrades faster.)

Additionally, with Oxo-Biodegradable Plastic, a new technology that produces plastic which degrades by a process of OXO-degradation, plastic bags can be economically made to be biodegradable.

Original Article from Reuseit.com

There are types of biodegradable plastics and it is important to distinguish between them; their costs and uses are very different. The two main types are oxo-biodegradable and hydro-biodegradable. Oxo-biodegradable plastics are “good” biodegradable plastic. When purchasing what you believe to be biodegradable, be sure the product is made from Oxo-biodegradable plastic.

In both cases degradation begins with a chemical process followed by a biological process. Both types emit CO2 as they degrade, but hydro-biodegradable can also emit methane. Both types are compostable, but only oxo-biodegradable can be economically recycled. Hydro-biodegradable is much more expensive than oxo-biodegradable.

OXO-BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC - This new technology produces plastic which degrades by a process of OXO-degradation. The technology is based on a very small amount of pro-degradant additive being added into the manufacturing process, which changes the behavior of the plastic. Degradation begins when the programmed service life is over and the product is no longer required. This “life” of the plastic product is determined at the time of manufacture by the additive formula and can be as little as a few months or as much as a few years.

There is little or no additional cost involved in products made with this technology, which can be made with the same machinery and workforce as conventional plastic products.

The plastic bottles or bags fragment, and will be consumed by bacteria and fungi after the additive has reduced the molecular structure to a level which permits living micro-organisms access to the carbon and hydrogen. So, it is “biodegradable.” This plastic biodegrades to nothing more than CO2, water, and humus, and it does not leave fragments of petro-polymers in the soil.

Oxo-biodegradable polymers do not contain PCBs, nor do they emit methane or nitrous oxide.

HYDRO-BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS - Some plastics in this category have high starch content and it is sometimes said that this justifies the claim that they are made from renewable resources. However, many of them contain up to 50% of synthetic plastic derived from oil, and others are entirely based on oil-derived intermediates.

Hydro-biodegradable plastics are not genuinely “renewable” because the process of making them is a significant user of fossil-fuel energy and a producer of greenhouse gases.

A disproportionate amount of land would be required to produce sufficient raw material to replace conventional plastic products, along with a huge amount of water.

Plastics made from crops, are up to 400% more expensive, they are not strong enough for use in high-speed machinery, and they emit methane in landfills.

Oxo-bio plastics degrade in the upper layers of a landfill, but they are completely inert deeper in the landfill in the absence of oxygen.

Paper bags use 300% more energy to produce. They are also bulky and heavy to store and are not strong enough, especially when wet. They also emit methane in a landfill.

So before your company decides to eliminate plastic, be sure you know your options and understand the different types of biodegradable plastics.

Paper or plastic? Ever wonder which is actually the right choice?

Environmentalists, bag manufacturers and garbage specialists have all wondered the same thing, but they come up with different answers.

Plastic bags end up in landfills, or on roadsides, or in lakes and streams, where they prove quite a hazard to wildlife, which choke on the bags.

But bag manufacturers and garbage experts say that in the long run, plastic wins over paper.

"Paper bags are easier to recycle, but they weigh 10 times as much," says Robert Bateman of Roplast Industries, a bag manufacturer. "And paper bags use more energy and cause more waste in the process of manufacturing."

A paper bag eats up almost three times as much energy in the manufacturing process, says Bateman, who's also a past president of the Plastic Bag Association.

That's not something usually emphasized by environmentalists trying to reduce plastic use.

"Plastic bags come out on the right side of the equation on everything except the recycling side," Bateman says.

Is paper better?

Ask a professor specializing in garbage whether paper is better than plastic, and he'll say the equation is relatively easy to solve.

"The answer is very simple and very straightforward," says garbologist Bill Rathje, at the Archaeology Center of Stanford University and a leading authority on what is in America's garbage.

"It's not one that the paper-bag people like to hear. In a dry landfill, paper bags don't degrade any faster than plastic bags. In a normal, well-run landfill, paper bags do not biodegrade any faster over at least 40 years than plastic."

The problem with paper is that it's fatter, he explains.

"Paper bags are much bulkier than plastic, so they fill up more landfill space," Rathje says. "They're three to five times bulkier than plastic, and you can see that yourself at the grocery. Landfills are closing down because they're full. From that perspective, plastic is much better than paper."

Bag manufacturer executive Bateman says that a lot of the wildlife-are-hurt argument is based on anecdotal evidence.

“A seal eating plastic is very rare," he says. "Plastics are durable and light and tend to float. As far as damaging other wildlife is concerned, the worst of it is sort of anecdotal and not representative of what's going on."

The plastic bag is winning the global popularity contest, manufacturers say, and part of that is because plastic is cheap.

"The paper bag is a mass-commodity product and is dying because of the costs involved -- specifically, because of the energy costs," explains Bateman. "Paper is energy-intensive compared to plastic.

Original article on Bankrate.com