Comparison of environmental impacts of carrier bags from different materials

Abstract

Life cycle assessment of disposable paper, HDPE, LDPE bags and polyester and cotton textile bags is presented. The study looked at various life cycle scenarios of bags taking into account the different end-of-life cycle methods. These were landfilling, energy recovery and recycling. The bags were compared on the basis of the same functional unit, which was the delivery of 573 kg of purchase, which is the amount of the purchase that will be bought in one year by the average Czech household. The study also produced a variant based on the volume of the purchased purchase. It has been found that the highest environmental impacts are shown by LDPE low density polyethylene bags. On the contrary, the lowest environmental impacts were found with a polyester textile reusable bag. Paper bag with polyester bag in terms of environmental impacts does not match up to repeated 7-fold recycling of paper fiber. Scenarios involving landfilling and energy use of disposable LDPE, HDPE and paper bags have higher environmental impacts than textile bags designed for long-term use. It was also found that the environmental impacts of paper and HDPE carrying bags are comparable.