In praise of plastic
A recent column by Margery Eagan fails to mention that the alternatives to plastic bags are much worse for the environment than the bags she hopes to ban (Nov. 18). Paper bags depend on cutting down trees, unlike plastic bags, which in the United States come from natural gas. Reusable bags may be even worse; they require so much more energy to produce than plastic bags that they must be used 131 times before they become equal in carbon consumption to a single plastic bag.