14 Plastic grocery bags are lighter and create up to 80 percent less waste by volume than paper sacks. In 1989, new technology gave us the same strength and durability in a bag only 0.7 mil thick. Their physical properties allow them to be used in multiple applications, while their durability and flexibility allow them to be used again and again. For example, some laundry products are being packaged in reusable plastic bottles. Small packages of concentrated product are used to refill the original bottles, helping to reduce total packaging waste.
Plastics are lighter than many alternative materials.
They have consistently reduced the weight of truck payloads and allowed companies to ship more product in fewer trucks. More than 2.8 million plastic grocery bags can be delivered in one truck. The same truck can hold only 500,000 paper grocery bags. 16 Plastics generally exhibit superior resistance to breakage and denting. This results in fewer container breaches and less product loss on the packaging line, and safer handling in the the home.