CEBU, Philippines – The management of Gaisano, Inc. has warned city officials that the use of conventional paper bags in lieu of plastic bags is more hazardous to the environment.
The Gaisano management submitted a position paper to the City Council relative to the proposed ordinance to ban the use or sale of plastic or styrofoam packaging as a way to address environmental problems such as the clogging of the city’s drainage system.
But the Gaisano management said that based on a study conducted by environmental experts, the use of conventional paper bags will be counter-productive, as it is reportedly more disastrous to the environment in the long run.
Plastic bags reportedly generate 39 percent less greenhouse gas emissions that uncomposted paper bags and 68 percent less gas emissions that composted paper bags.
Research also showed that in modern landfills, paper does not degrade or break down at a substantially faster rate than plastic does. Due to lack of water, light, oxygen and other important elements necessary for the degradation process to occur, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills.
Gaisano claimed that one of the studies showed that a newspaper found buried in an Arizona landfill and dug up after more than 30 years has clearly seen that paper does not degrade rapidly in landfills. — Rene U. Borromeo/JMO (THE FREEMAN)