My local newspaper recently ran a feature article headlined, "The Great American Bag Race," which I found both interesting and amusing in ways that neither the author nor the editor probably intended. The subject was the relative merits of paper and plastic grocery bags; the discussion included the reasons why many customers and grocers vehemently prefer one or the other, and the fierce economic competition between manufacturers of both.
Just a few years ago, practically all grocery stores in this country routinely stuffed a customer's groceries into paper bags. In the early Eighties, plastic bags began to replace them in some places. By the time I sat down to write this, the two competitors were running neck and neck, with roughly equal numbers of paper and plastic bags in use.
The article I mentioned reached no clear conclusion about which kind of bag was better overall, but it made clear that both kinds of bags contribute to the problems of resource consumption and solid waste disposal. The difference between them in terms of environmental impact is one of degree -- and, when you come right down to it, pretty trivial. Ironically, neither the author nor anyone quoted in the article even hinted that there might be another option that offers much more significant advantages over either kind of bag.