Environmental impact of textile bags

Textile bags have emerged as a promising alternative to plastic bags to reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste. The main attraction of using textile bags for shopping is that they are reusable, reducing the amount of waste produced. Despite their benefits, cotton bags have a higher environmental impact and require more resources to produce than their plastic alternative. In comparison, a textile bag must be reused 131 times to have the same environmental impact as a plastic bag.

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some attempts made
past case
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ongoing case
no attempts made

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Environmental impact of textile bags

Textile bags have emerged as a promising alternative to plastic bags to reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste. The main attraction of using textile bags for shopping is that they are reusable, reducing the amount of waste produced. Despite their benefits, cotton bags have a higher environmental impact and require more resources to produce than their plastic alternative. In comparison, a textile bag must be reused 131 times to have the same environmental impact as a plastic bag.

The introduction of bans or fees on single-use plastic bags in various counties and states in the US (including California) aims to reduce plastic use and pollution. However, it has been found that such policies do not take sufficient account of human behaviour and the actual, real-world use of single-use plastic bags. While such policies are observed to reduce the use of this type of bag, they are also associated with significant increases in the use of other types of plastic bags, such as trash bags, which (partially) offsets the desired effects of the ban.

Huang, YK., Woodward, R.T. (2022). Spillover Effects of Grocery Bag Legislation: Evidence of Bag Bans and Bag Fees. Environ Resource Econ 81, 711–741. https://doi-org.proxy.library.uu.nl/10.1007/s10640-022-00646-5  

Taylor, R. L. C. (2019). Bag leakage: The effect of disposable carryout bag regulations on unregulated bags. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 93, 254–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2019.01.001

Environment Agency. (2011). Life cycle assessment of supermarket carrierbags: a review of the bags available in 2006. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-cycle-assessment-of-supermarket-carrierbags-a-review-of-the-bags-available-in-2006

Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. (2018, February). Life Cycle Assessment of grocery carrier bags. https://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf

Muthu, S.s. (2015). LCA of cotton shopping bags. Handbook of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Textiles and Clothing, 283-299. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100169-1.00013-7