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Paper or Plastic?… Neither

This past week, Wal-Mart started a new campaign in our area of offering reusable bags for $1 each. The bag is similar to some I’ve seen costing as much as $10. According to an included information card, this bag has the following special characteristics:

  • It is 100% recyclable
  • It is made from 85% recycled materials
  • It is made from approximately 4 plastic soda bottles
  • It can replace 50 plastic shopping bags
  • It can carry the same weight as 2-3 plastic shopping bags

I don’t know how they can claim that this bag replaces 50 plastic shopping bags. Perhaps a durability comparison was made between these bags and plastic shopping bags, and the recycled bags were found to last 50 times longer than plastic grocery bags.

Other retailers adopting recycled bags include Hy-Vee, Dahl’s Food Stores, and Whole Foods Market.

Companies such as One Bag at a Time will manufacture shopping bags with a custom imprint. Hy-Vee has ordered their branded bags from EuroPackage.

By Greg Johnson

Greg Johnson is a freelance writer and tech consultant in Iowa City. He is also the founder and Director of the ResourcesForLife.com website. Learn more at AboutGregJohnson.com