Bag printer Are Plastic Bags Really Any Worse Than Paper?

In other news, Parker reiterated that fliers should get used to new fees for items like preferred seating or checking a second custom paper bags. He says those new "ancillary" fees are here to stay, adding income from such fees helped US Airways offset last year’s high fuel costs and this year’s economic downturn. The carrier expects to make as much as $500 million in 2009 off those types of fees.

"Parker said that although some customers were turned off by the custom printed bags fees, the added charges have reduced the number of custom printed shopping bag flowing through the system by 20% — and allowed custom bags gage handling systems to operate more efficiently. Making this arduous process smaller and more streamlined has allowed the Tempe, Ariz.-based airline to improve its on-time performance, Parker said," AP writes.
What’s interesting is that the global push to ban plastic bag printing outright is gaining momentum just as an increasing number of studies suggest that paper custom bag are no environmental angel either. Just yesterday, for instance, Philadelphia dropped its plan for a 25-cent surcharge on plastic bags in favor of a full ban on the things.
Plastic bags decoration’ bad rap in the developed world is especially due to its effect on marine life—that was one of the reasons the United Nations called for a global ban this week. But the rich world’s custom printed bag problem pales next to the plastic scourge affecting poor countries.
You would think Tanzania, for instance, has bigger problems to tackle than plastic custom plastic bag. But Zanzibar, part of the African nation, just slapped a ban on the cheap plastic custom plastic bag that litter the landscape. The penalties aren’t nickel-and-dime surcharges, either: Fines for importing or selling the really cheap, thin custom printed plastic bags reach $2,000.
The problem is that for much of the world, reusable custom plastic bag are an expensive luxury. Even in the rich world—and we speak from guilty experience—they don’t do much good sequestered permanently inside the pantry.
So EC readers, what to do about the custom promotional bags conundrum? Paper, plastic, or neither?