The global effort to reduce the impact of plastic bags on the environment is getting a big push this coming year with many countries and cities implemented either a tax on plastic bags at grocery stores or simply doing away with them altogether.

In 2002, Ireland instituted a 15-cent tax on plastic bags to end the “litter menace,” and Bangladesh banned them outright. This year, China and Australia will outlaw them. Here at home, San Francisco has begun requiring shops to use only bags made of at least 40 percent recycled paper. And on Jan. 22, trendsetter Whole Foods announced that as of Earth Day (April 22) it no longer will offer plastic bags to customers at the checkout counters. The move, the company estimates, will take 100 million new bags out of circulation by the end of 2008. [...]

But this latest shift might not be as painless. While subbing tap water for bottled water is effortless, giving up plastic bags is an inconvenience. We must either take our own bag to the store or use paper bags, which environmentalists argue aren’t much better than the plastic ones; after all, we need those trees to soak up the carbon dioxide spewed by our SUVs.

So the question remains: Which is better, paper or plastic? The answer, is not as clear as you’d think. And in the end, it’s just better to re-use whatever you can get your hands on.

Previously on Doobybrain.com: Vortex of trash in the Pacific Ocean

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