The Reason Why Tote Bags Aren't As Eco-Friendly As You Think

Starting to use bags that were made of cloth and thus avoid the great contamination of plastic, was a good way to start reducing toxic waste for the environment. However, these elements, often made from cotton and in various colors, would not be as 'ecofriendly' as is believed.

Many are made industrially, that is, the creation process already involves pollution, especially due to the large production that means creating hundreds of these bags a day. To this, it is added that the chemical process to dye the fabric and the logos that are usually made of non-recyclable PCV, is one more factor of contamination.

A recent report by The New York Times gives an account of this situation. The reason why they wouldn't be as friendly to nature is that we use too many of them. In each home, there can be up to 20 of these, and if all the families and people who use them are added up, it is a high production number.

In 2018, the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food carried out a study which showed that a cloth bag should be used at least 20 thousand times in order to reduce the environmental impact that cotton cultivation implies, focusing mainly on the amount of water for irrigation that these plantations need.

“That means that each bag has to be used every day for almost 55 years (54.79 years, if we do not take leap years into account) to offset its environmental impact. 110 years for two cloth bags”, indicates the investigation.

Even recycling cloth bags affects the environment, because the reconversion of cotton involves another energy expense, without considering that many of these bags are colored, which due to the dye, cannot be recycled, says The New York Times.

Margaret Bates, professor of sustainable waste management at the University of Northampton, told BBC Mundo in a previous article that "the manufacturing process also uses a lot of water and produces a high concentration of toxic chemicals, comparable to that of the manufacture of plastic bags. single-use plastic.

“In turn they are heavier. So, depending on where they are manufactured, there is another environmental impact when transporting them to the sales establishments”, added the specialist.

Bates maintains that “many forget to bring their reusable bags on their weekly visits to the supermarket and end up buying more bags at checkout. So if you replace your bags frequently, the environmental impact will be greater.”

In conclusion, the key is to reduce the impact of these bags, regardless of the material and reuse them as much as possible, that is, do not forget to take your bag when you need to go shopping, in order to avoid buying a new one again.