Plastic Carry Bags: Balancing Convenience with Sustainability
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Plastic carry bags have become a ubiquitous and often contentious item in modern consumer society. In essence, the carry bag plastic is a good example of pure utility—lightweight, strong, inexpensive, and waterproof—which was the main reason that both the retailers and the consumers made it their preferred choice for decades. For the first time, consumers had access to a means of transportation that could carry everything from the smallest corner store to the biggest supermarket easily and quickly. The shopping experience was thus transformed by the efficiency of a single-use bag, most often made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which allows for unparalleled ease of use, a feature that is almost impossible to overlook when one tries to assess the real cost of the alternatives. The large number of these items highlights their essential, though problematic, role in the global supply chain. The Rise and Environmental Reckoning of t...