SWITCHING FROM PLASTIC TO PAPER

Bag legislation strikes again. The latest is out of Philadelphia with a single use plastic bag ban to go into effect on July 2, 2020. The entire state of New York will ban single use plastic bags in March 2020. California has a ban in effect already and many municipalities throughout the country have their own bans.

Is it time to switch to paper bags? How do you do that without driving up costs? Here are some things to consider.

Bag size

Most plastic bags have a bottom gusset or a side gusset. Paper bags have both. You may not need the same size gusset with a paper bag as you have with plastic. For example, if you currently use a 15” x 18” + 4” bottom gusset, you have a bag with a volume of 1,080 cubic inches. The same volume in a paper bag would be 15” + 2” x 18” + 2.” You don’t need a 4” gusset all the way around. However, the best way to determine sizes is to build the bag around the products that go into the bag.

Type of paper

Consider the various available papers for look and cost.

• Art paper—this is for the high-end luxury look of a Eurotote. This is virgin paper and best with a lamination, so you will not be able to meet recycled content or even recycle the bag because of the lamination, but it is far from a single use bag.

• White Kraft—you will have white inside and out and will be able to have recycled content.

• Flip Paper—reduce your costs from white Kraft by having white on the outside from excellent print quality, and brown on the inside for high PCW content.

• Brown Kraft—this is the least expensive of the paper options. You will need to get creative with the art to make this appealing, but it can be done.

Your brand

You won’t compromise your brand, so quality matters, but bag legislation is about a changing perspective on our environment. How does that factor into the message you want to send? Your bag becomes your message.

Gary Shippy, President