Science Capsules

Shopping bags carry environmental costs across production, transport, reuse, disposal, and recycling. This summary explains how plastic, paper, cotton, and reusable bags compare across their lifecycles, why reuse habits often matter more than material choice alone, and how to make greener decisions at checkout and at home.

Most plastic tossed in the recycling bin never becomes anything new, and the reasons are contested. These reasons range from misleading resin codes and the false promise of chemical recycling to the systemic changes and proven programs that do work. You can decide which fixes would genuinely improve where your plastic ends up.