[Nevadan]

Plastic bags were introduced to replace paper bags. Paper bag come from trees, a renewable resource that adds oxygen to the atmosphere while taking in carbon dioxide. Paper bags are biodegradable. Why not go back to paper bags?

[JeanLM]

Why not go back to paper bags? Here are a few reasons:

Making paper is a very polluting process.
Paper bags tear and get wet.
They cost more
They do not biodegrade in landfills where most trash ends up. Nothing does.

Plastic bags are made from natural gas, not oil (polyethylene), and we have more natural gas that we know what to do with.

If we burned our waste, as we really should, we could recover all the BTUs locked in the plastic and paper and turn it into energy.

[cyclotic]

Read the article. Paper costs far more to produce, not only in dollars but resources. Paper bags are also heavier to transport and thus use more resources and cause more pollution than the similar number of lightweight plastic bags.

[lowbuck]

As I recall, the save the trees crowd was upset that the planet was being deforested so we could bring our shopping home. Solution: plastic bags!!

The extent to how folks can be made to agree and push the most absurd things is to tell them we need to ban dihydrogen oxide because so much is being used and then flushed down the drains. Oh, that is water but don't tell the fool signing the petition. OK rant/ off.