Types of Reusable Bags
Fabric, paper and plastic
- There is a wide range of reusable bag options on the market. Reusables are heavier and more durable bags, constructed to have a longer life. Often, they are made of more than one material to give the bag added strength and durability, and sometimes also to have a more appealing look.
- Each bag has an environmental impact. Consumers opt for reusable bags, assuming that they are being environmental, but the reusable bag must be reused repeatedly if it is to be beneficial to the environment.
- Although advertised in many cases as recyclable, reusable bags are not being recycled in Canada. Because each bag can be made from several different materials, recycling of reusable bags is complicated, time intensive, and costly. The bags have to be deconstructed in the recycling process. Clearly, this lessens their performance as a preferred, environmental alternative because the reusables go to landfill at the end of their useful life.
- Reusables are aptly named—they can be reused. Even the conventional shopping bag (high-density polyethylene) provided by grocery stores has high reuse potential. The question is, which bags of all the bags on the market have the lowest environmental impact?
- On a life cycle basis, stronger, heavier bags—no matter what material they are made from—will have a greater environmental impact. This is because heavier bags use more resources, and as a result, have a more significant environmental impact.
- For cotton or canvas bags have to match the environmental efficiency of the conventional plastic shopping bag, they have to be reused hundreds of times. While cotton is a renewable material, cotton production is very resource intensive and harder on the environment due to the heavy use of water, pesticides, energy and fertilizers required to grow, harvest and process cotton.
Bags By Type of Material
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Fabric Reusable Bags- There are a wide range of fabric reusable bags on the market, including natural fibre bags like cotton and canvas, jute, hemp. There are also petroleum-based fabric bags (nylon and polyester, known as PET).
- Each bag material has advantages and disadvantages. Some of the options on the market today:
- Cotton and canvas bags are the most common bags made with natural-fibres.
- They might be made from traditional cotton, organic cotton or recycled cotton bags.
- Traditional cotton is made from a renewable crop source, but requires chemicals and pesticides and consumes huge quantities of water.
- Organic cotton is grown without pesticides, which is helpful in reducing the negative environmental footprint of cotton production.
- Recycled cotton consists of reclaimed organic and traditional cotton "scrap" which is spun into new yarn.
- To match the efficiency of using a plastic shopping bag just once, each cotton bag must be reused 131 times to compensate for its large carbon footprint/global warming potential.
Advantages
- Biodegradable/natural plant fibre
- Renewable resource
- Strong and durable (bags are typically 8-12 ounces)
- Soft fabric
- Can be machine washed in cold water
Disadvantages
- Heavy environmental footprint and global warming potential
- Traditional (non-organic) cotton production accounts for 16% of the world's pesticide use
- High water consumption crop
- Bags are not moisture resistant, unless chemically treated
- Heavy, bulky and expensive to ship
- Not sterile and needs to be washed regularly to prevent bacterial cross contamination of food
- Not recyclable in Canada
- Calico is a cotton fibre that is unbleached and not fully processed
- Since this is essentially a cotton bag, it is very resource intensive, giving it a high carbon footprint
- Has to be used hundreds of times to match the environmental performance of alternatives
Advantages
- Lack of bleaching and processing makes this type of cotton bag kinder to the environment
than traditional cotton- The fabric is relatively cheap to produce
- These bags are strong and durable, but subject to shrinking when washed in warm or hot water
Disadvantages
- Not water resistant unless chemically treated
- Unless organically grown, this cotton requires heavy pesticide use
- Very water-intensive crop
- Needs to be washed regularly to prevent bacterial cross contamination of food
- Not recyclable in Canada
- Hemp is a natural fibre that is several times stronger than cotton
- Hemp is used for textiles and industrial applications
- This is a different plant from the same family of hallucinogenic marijuana
- The crop can grow in poor soils, is drought tolerant and grows well without pesticides or fertilizers
Advantages
- Extremely strong, durable, and rot resistant
- Can grow in poor soils with little water
- Most hemp reusable bags can be machine washed and dried
- Hemp can be blended with other materials to make highly desirable, high end fabrics with a texture similar to linen
- Hemp is typically blended with cotton, or recycled PET
Disadvantages
- Currently cannot be grown domestically (hemp products in the western world are imported)
- Can be expensive
- Can be grainy, though most is refined
- Refined hemp uses more water to cultivate
- Needs to be washed regularly to prevent bacterial cross contamination of food
- Not recyclable in Canada
- Jute is a natural plant fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads
- Grows in high rainfall areas and requires little to no pesticides or irrigation
- Often referred to as hessian in Europe and burlap in North America
Advantages
- Natural renewable resource
- Biodegradable and compostable
- Relatively cheap to purchase
- Durable
- Can be blended with other fabrics (like Jute made with Nonwoven Polypropylene)
Disadvantages
- Scarcity of supply as used primarily to store crops
- The bags are not very resistant to moisture unless chemically treated or laminated
- Grainy texture
- Not easily branded—print capability is clunky and limited—so fewer organizations choose this material for their bags
- Needs to be washed regularly to prevent bacterial cross contamination of food
- Not recyclable in Canada
- Paper bags are often used by specialty and non-grocery stores, but reuse of the bags is problematic
- There is no significant reuse of the bags
- They lose strength and tear when wet
Advantages
- Biodegradable
- Made from a renewable resource
- Recyclable
- As a litter item they are less persistent in the environment
- Good colour printing
Disadvantages
- Not durable—tears and loses strength when wet, so these bags curtail reusability
- The bags are also anywhere from six to ten times heavier than lightweight plastic bags
- Their heavier weight adds costs to municipal waste management
- Their weight adds to transportation distribution costs and greenhouse gas emissions
- Their greater volume also adds costs to inventory space
There are a number of options available, made from different polymers:
- It looks and feels like a fabric bag but is made from plastic (PET#1 bottles recycled into fabric, e.g. Loblaws' resuable bag)
- Recycled PET is a durable, eco-friendly fabric made from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles and containers
- Reusable bags made from recycled PET create a market for post-consumer recycled materials
Advantages
- Using recycled PET materials reduces waste and conserves a non-renewable resource
- Strong and durable
- Requires 2/3 less energy to manufacture products made out of PET
- Can be blended with other fabrics, like hemp or polyester to make a nice material for reusable bags
Disadvantages
- Typically manufactured off shore
- Recyclable, but not currently in Canada
- Not recommended for machine washing (hand wash only)
Polypropylene Reusable Bags (PP)
- Made from spun, bonded, non-woven polypropylene
- Non-woven polypropylene is a form of plastic—a flexible resin polymer used to make rope, chairs and the tops of Tic-Tac containers
- This type of bag is very popular in Canada because of its strength and slightly rigid, sturdy profile
- A semi-rigid insert is put into the bottom of the bag to provide stability
Advantages
- Very strong and durable
- Can be made from recycled materials
- Easy to wipe clean
- Wide variety of material color and printing options
Disadvantages
- While recyclable, it is not recyclable in Canada
- Made off shore
- Not biodegradable or compostable
- Made from a non-renewable resource
- Not recommended for machine washing (hand wash or spray clean only)
- Problems with lead in the inks and bag bottom inserts have led to a number of recalls
- Needs to be washed regularly to prevent bacterial cross contamination of food
- Nylon is a type of synthetic polymer originally made to replace silk in fabrics
- Material compacts into a small ball for storage and ease of use
Advantages
- Nylon is strong and durable
- Lightweight material
- Compacts easily
- Easily dyed which creates interesting material colour options
- Water resistant
Disadvantages
- Not recyclable
- Slow to break down
- Made from a non-renewable resource
- Needs to be washed regularly to prevent bacterial cross contamination of food
- Not recyclable in Canada
Low density Polyethylene Reusable Bags (LDPE), a.k.a. "Bags-for-Life"
- These are thick gauged, heavy duty plastic bags often referred to as "Bags-for-Life"
- They are highly recyclable, convenient and can be reused as kitchen catchers
- The LCBO used to offer consumers a heavy gauge LDPE bag with 30% recycled content
- A UK Environment Agency study of supermarket bags found that the LDPE "Bag-for-Life" has to be used five times to match the environmental impact of using a conventional plastic shopping bag (HDPE) once
Advantages
- Recyclable (with the exception of the bag with some prodegradant additives)
- Made in Canada
- Can be recycled in Canada
- High reuse
- Does not biodegrade (excepting bags with the additive), making it useful for landfill
Disadvantages
- Litter concerns for most of the bags because of their somewhat lightweight nature
- Made from a non-renewable resource
- Does not biodegrade
Conventional Polyethylene Reusable Bags—the Multi-Purpose Reusable
- There are a number of different polyethylene reusable bags on the market – conventional high density (HDPE#2), polyethylene with prodegradant additive, and low density (LDPE#4) bags.
i) High density polyethylene and Low density polyethylene bags
- These are multi-purpose, shorter life bags
- The conventional polyethylene plastic shopping bags have been included because of their high reuse rates of 40-60%
- This reuse is predominately as bin liners for household garbage - and in the case of Toronto, to recycle organics in the green bin
- However, the conventional bag, is also reused for a multitude of other purposes like carrying groceries, to manage pet waste, as lunch bags, for storage, for packaging, for travel, and so on
ii) High Density Polyethylene Bags with a Prodegradant Additive
- This is similar in purpose and configuration to the conventional plastic shopping bag but it has an additive to accelerate the degradation process when exposed to natural daylight, heat, mechanical stress and weathering
- These bags have been introduced into the marketplace in response to litter concerns
- These plastics undergo accelerated degradation under the right conditions
- There are concerns some of these bags resins may not be compatible with the recycling of film plastics and may contaminate the recycling stream