Plastic Bags Are Bad. But, They’re Not Made From Oil.
How many barrels of oil does it take to make a ton of plastic bags? If you just reached for your calculator, you might have fallen for one of the biggest misconceptions to ever sweep across the green blogosphere.
The fact is that most plastic bags are not made from oil.
So, What Are Plastic Bags Made From Then?
Plastic bags are made from ethylene, a byproduct of natural gas. Chemists string together long chains of ethylene to form polyethylene. Depending on the process used to create the chains different densities of polyethylene can be produced.
The bags you are given at retail and grocery stores checkouts are High Density Polyethylene or HDPE. They are fairly sturdy, able to hold quite a bit of weight without breaking, optically cloudy, and can be dyed any color.
Low Density Polyethylene or LDPE are optically clear bags, very light, and often described as wispy. These bags are likely to be found in the produce market or covering your clothing at a dry cleaner.
Where Does Natural Gas Come From?
Unlike oil, which the United States currently imports an estimated 70% of, we produce 82% of our own natural gas. The remaining 18% is imported from Canada and Mexico.
Aren’t Plastic Bags Also Made From Oil?
Yes, but relatively few in comparison to plastic bags from from natural gas. It is possible to create ethylene from naphtha, a byproduct of petroleum. However, less than 30% of ethylene is produced from naphtha.
As oil prices rise due to demand for gasoline, we are likely to produce more plastic bags from natural gas sources of ethylene.
Plastic Bags Are Bad For The Environment
Now don’t get me wrong. Plastic bags are bad for the environment. Most of what you’ve read about plastic bags is true. Plastic bags kill wildlife, cause pollution, clog landfills and indirectly raise the price of food at the grocery store.
I strongly recommend the use of reusable bags. They hold more, look better, and aren’t likely to leave your groceries strewn around the grocer’s parking lot.
Spread The Word!
As a community of green bloggers, we NEED to stop the hyperbole of plastic bags being made primarily from foreign oil. We have many strong and valid points as to why we should reduce or even ban the use of plastic bags without it.
Not sure why there is really a distinction here between natural gas and oil. Natual gas is a fossil fuel just like oil and is generally found in the oilfields.
I feel the distinction is important for two reasons:
1. In the US, we produce most of our own natural gas. The natural gas we import is from neighboring countries with whom we have pretty good relations. As opposed to oil which is imported from countries with which we have generally tumultuous relationships.
2. Production of polyethylene from natural gas is cleaner than cracking naphtha from crude oil.
It’s true that natural gas is also a fossil fuel. Chicken is an animal meat, but I don’t call it beef.
It’s important to the green movement to keep our i’s dotted and our t’s crossed. Otherwise, we get our arguments picked apart by people who make distinctions between natural gas and oil. Like politicians.
I hope this answers your question. Thank you for commenting!
I’m no chemist, but I think most people get confused because polyethylene and crude oil/gasoline are made of similar chemical compounds (C2H4 for ethene and C8H18 for octane gasoline).
Kind of like your meat argument, the chemical comparison makes a good broad overview, but when you look closely it falls apart.
Almost like comparing water and hydrogen peroxide (H20, H2O2).
Great post!
While I understand why “plastic bags are bad”, but I thought that years ago these bags were beginning to be made out of bio-materials, like corn and soybeans. What ever happened to that?
I, for one, hate to see the end of these bags (provided they were made out of something not so toxic.) I never throw one of these away! I reuse them for everything, and have found that they fit very nicely in a small garbage can, so I no longer buy plastic garbage bags for the multiple small trash cans in my house. And I prefer them to paper bags for carrying my groceries, which is an unpopular thought, but there it is.
Thank you for the comments / compliments everyone! I really appreciate them.
@Heather - There are bags available made from food starches, such as corn starch. The catch is that they are more expensive than HDPE plastic bags. I plan on making a post about this at some point, but I’m not at a point yet where I feel comfortable with my research.
I’ll say this though, I suspect that should grocery stores start carrying these starch bags that one or more of the following will happen:
A) food prices will go up because the operation costs will be elevated slightly due to more expensive materials,
B) They will start charging for the bags, and
C) Food prices will go up because most food on the market today contains corn or soy additives (corn syrup, corn starch, soy protein etc). If corn / soy are instead used to make bags, the manufacturers of the bags would be competing with food manufacturers for materials raising both the prices of bags and of the food itself directly.
I think it’s a slippery slope to head down when we start using food to make stuff other than food products.
I do sympathize with you, the free garbage and lunch bags are very nice. Even though I do my best, I still end up with a few every month. But I have almost completely cut them out.
Thanks for this! I changed my website immediately after reading it. http://hyattsville.wetpaint.com/page/Plastic+Bags+are+EVIL%21
I agree, we need to have everything perfect or it will be picked apart by the “denyers”. It’s gotta be about fact.
Wow…. so, correct me if I’m wrong, but natural gas still a non-renewable resource. Which would mean that if we’re using a little of it up every day, it’s eventually going to run out, right? So I guess this conversation is STILL over.
I would argue that as oil prices rise due to demand for gasoline, we are likely to produce more plastic bags from natural gas sources of ethylene as well, which means that all that natural gas we use to COOK AND HEAT OUR HOMES is going to be more expensive.
I think there are worse myths to dispel than “plastic bags are made from foreign oil”. Perhaps the myth that there is an “AWAY” where garbage goes.
@Caprilfresh
Why so hostile? I think we’re both on the same side here.
The point of the article is that plastic bags are bad, but there’s a lot of misinformation as to their origin. I think this is pretty obvious from your second paragraph.
I think you’re confusing ethane (which is cracked to produce ethylene) and methane (which is used to heat homes).
Both of these gasses are derived from fossil fuels, which are non-renewable. However, they are chemically different. When natural gas is harvested it contains both methane and ethane. So, plastic affecting the price of your heating gas is unlikely.
I’m sure there’s an interesting angle to garbage disposal, but for the most part I think we all know it goes to landfills. Where unfortunately it sits around for all eternity and never biodegrades. We need to stop producing so much garbage, I think we agree on this.
Thank you for your comment.
This is a great post. I completely agree that we need to have all our facts straight. We’ve updated our website to reflect this info.
You note that 30% of bags may still be made from oil derived Naphtha. Do you hae a citation for that figure.
Thanks for your info on this.
@Mark
Good catch. I did forget to link my source. I’ve updated the article with one of my sources.
http://www.napm-ny.org/resources/commodity.html
Take care.
re: Caprilfresh’s comment - I also live where homes are largely heated by “natural gas” - the gas company does not specify whether it is methane or what. So I think that might be what Caprilfresh was refering to.
If anyone is crafty and wants to make their own bags, I have collected lots of free patterns from all over the internet, and these along with some commentary are available at Make A Bag. I’ll be commenting on this article there as well. Thanks!
@Heather T
A long time ago, they just used natural gas straight up. However, in recent years they realized they were leaving a LOT of money on the table by not processing the gas. The gas company that serves us here in Florida is People’s Gas, they go by Teco Energy in other states. They use the term natural gas, but if you dig into the site a little, you’ll see it’s methane.
http://www.peoplesgas.com/resources/gasfacts/
The fact is that natural gas simply sounds better in marketing literature. It’s got the word “natural” in it, and that always sounds good coming from a fossil fuel company.
Thank you for the comment Heather! Crafting old disposable bags into renewable bags is a great project for anyone who has the skills and the time.
A very good informative post about plastic bags. I upcycle plastic bags into grocery tote bags and other useful things. It’s important to get the word out about using recycled or reusable grocery bags to everyone!
Thanks Cindy!
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After reading your post here, I’m really surprised that they were not actually made from oil. Just imagine, I had the wrong perceptions all the while.
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Oy… I make and sell reusable shopping bags, and plastic bags being oil-derived was one of my big selling points! I just removed that info from my site. Thanks for clearing this up. Hopefully my sales won’t suffer because, after all, reusable cotton bags are still better than plastic.
Jen, thanks for your post. You can say they are made from non-renewable resources, or from fossil fuels. Those might be good alternatives. Best of luck with your business!
Trees are a RENEWABLE source.
The paper made is usually started at the top of the chain. High quality papers for photo copies and pictures end up recycled.
As the stages of recycle take place, notice that your cereal boxes are flimsy and the tab to close doesn’t.
Newspaper is recycled; tho the print ink is a mess to deal with environmentally.
At the bottom end is cardboard and even THAT gets recycled.
Eventually, it all ends up in landfill….where it conveniently degrades quickly. Your new tree has now grown to be reharvested and start the cycle anew.
Long live the paper bag!
While paper is technically a renewable resource, you’re forgetting about two things: the environmental cost of the chemicals used in virgin paper production, and the fact that biodegrading happens anything but quickly in a landfill.
In fact, because a landfill is a anaerobic environment, it can take hundreds of years for a hamburger to breakdown. Maybe even a thousand for a paper bag.
Some basic info on landfills, it’s aimed at kids, but still good info: http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/recycling/solidwaste/landfiller.html
The best solution to the paper or plastic argument is a bag which will last a lifetime.
Nimics last blog post..Fairtrade: A Worldwide Cause Worthy of Your Attention
I came across this news on the guardian a few months ago while doing some research
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/26/waste.pollution
Apparently the new wave of bioplastics currently being used for food packaging and plastic bags has its very dark side too. While it does in fact breakdown in a landfill, it emits a lot of harmful gases by doing so. The only way to tackle this is by biodegrade them in a controlled environment where these gases are caught.
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