Question 1

What are the main conclusions of the UK Environmental Agency's life cycle assessment of supermarket carrier bags?

epiadmin · Accepted Answer

Amongst the different types of carrier bags studied (including HDPE, LDPE, biopolymer (starch-polyester), non-woven PP, paper & cotton bags), HDPE bags have the lowest overall environmental impact
For all types of carrier bags, the key determinant of their environmental impact was the degree to which they were re-used
Paper, non-woven PP and cotton bags have to be re-used 4, 14 and 173 times respectively for their global warming potential to be less than that of HDPE bags (assuming 40% of HDPE bags are re-used as bin liners)
Bio-polymer (starch-polyester) bags have greater global warming potential than conventional plastic bags due to "the increased weight of material [per] bag, higher material production impacts and a higher end-of-life impact in landfill"

Question 2

What are the main conclusions of the UK Environmental Agency's life cycle assessment of supermarket carrier bags?

epiadmin · Accepted Answer

Amongst the different types of carrier bags studied (including HDPE, LDPE, biopolymer (starch-polyester), non-woven PP, paper & cotton bags), HDPE bags have the lowest overall environmental impact
For all types of carrier bags, the key determinant of their environmental impact was the degree to which they were re-used
Paper, non-woven PP and cotton bags have to be re-used 4, 14 and 173 times respectively for their global warming potential to be less than that of HDPE bags (assuming 40% of HDPE bags are re-used as bin liners)
Bio-polymer (starch-polyester) bags have greater global warming potential than conventional plastic bags due to "the increased weight of material [per] bag, higher material production impacts and a higher end-of-life impact in landfill"

What are the main conclusions of the UK Environmental Agency’s life cycle assessment of supermarket carrier bags?