Plastic Bag Or Paper Bag??

Can you guys wonder how many plastic bags are used everyday? Because I can't! I went to supermarket yesterday and realized that we use lots and lots of plastic bags everyday. Where do these plastic bags go after they are not used? I remembered the doctrine that my elementary school teacher used to tell the class, don't use plastic too much because they can't be decomposed and just imagine if one day our earth will be full of plastic! Is using plastic then a sin?

In Indonesia, plastic bags are an essential in everyday life. Just look at its versatility, you can use them for food, groceries, garbage, and many more! But in many countries, paper bags are preferable. The wrap food with paper sheets, the grocery bags is made from recycled paper.

Which one is better? Many will think that paper bags are better because they can be recycled and the reproduced for the same purpose. But it is going to be wise if we look at the new technology in the plastic production. Many plastic today are biodegradable, which means they are environment friendly.

But the question is, are the plastic bags used in Indonesia are biodegradable? If not then how can it be environment friendly? Well, there's an answer! I read a blog called Manusia Sederhana and he posted about recycling plastic, though not fully discuss plastic bags specifically but I think it can be useful! At least it will give us more points of views about plastic that was considered harmful for the environment.

And the good news is that there is awareness from people to reduce the usage of plastic bags today through rigorous campaigns about green environment. If the cost of using plastic bags is higher than the cost of using paper bags, then we should change to paper bags. But if there are efforts to reduce the cost of using plastic bags like mentioned above (biodegradable, recycling, campaigns), then there's a judgement to use plastic bags.

My stance is as follow, if a plastic bag isn't neccessary than I can just put in on my pocket or my bag or carry them. It may not be significant, but if let say 10 million people are doing the same at the same time, imagine how significant it will be?

Cheers!