Here are some of the energy-using steps involved in making paper
bags from trees and transporting them to the grocery store:
- Logging trees uses big machinery that runs on fossil fuel.
- Building roads to get to those trees uses fossil fuels, as do the machines needed to drag the trees out of the forest.
The
mill uses energy to heat and dry the logs and to chip them into
small pieces. They are cooked with lots of heat and pressure to
make pulp—that takes energy, too.
- The pulp is washed with thousands of gallons of water, which takes energy to pump and deliver and dispose of.
- Once the paper is made, it takes energy to cut and print and make into bags at the bag factory.
- It takes energy to deliver the bags to the store.
- If you throw paper bags away, it takes energy to deliver them to the dump or landfill.
