Which is better for the environment - paper or plastic bags? If you do the major portion of your grocery shopping at Big Y, will you be outraged when they outlaw plastic grocery bags by the year 2020?

The NewsTimes reports that Richard D. Bossie, Big Y vice president of store operations said in a statement, "Single-use plastic bags can no longer be viewed as a long-term solution for our stores."

He went on to say that Big Y's customers are asking for a more environmentally friendly alternative. But is paper really more environmentally friendly than plastic? Not according to the website allaboutbags.ca, which says it's a fact that plastic shopping bags outperform paper bags on reuse, on manufacturing, and on solid waste volume and generation.

According to science.howstuffworks.com, when it comes to the battle over which is greener, "neither paper or plastic have it in the bag." Bottom line, both paper and plastic bags are not good for the environment. If you're truly concerned about our planet and going green, most websites recommend you purchase reusable shopping bags which you can easily buy on Amazon.com.

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