Paper Packaging for Food and Stand Up Bags -- Part One

I'm well aware that many people feel using paper and paper packaging is a better way to help our environment.  In some instances, I'm sure they are right, but when it comes to packaging food items, there can be no argument that stand up bags are the better choice.  True, paper can be recycled, but did you realize for paper to have any barrier properties it needs to be laminated with another substrate, like plastic, foil, or even some other type of coating?  That very coating drastically affects whether paper can break down and even be recycled and used in other products.

Stand up bags, also known as stand bags or stand up pouches, are made from multiple layers of engineered barrier film.  Each layer of barrier film has a purpose and when combined with the other layers creates a pouch that can stand effectively on a store shelf, has incredible barrier properties to keep the contents fresh, as well as puncture resistance and burst strength.

Better yet, stand bags are landfill friendly, can be ground up and recycled with other plastics and used to create new products.  While there have been advances in different types of plastic made with little or no petroleum, like corn based plastics, there still isn't a clear cut alternative to layering films together and laminating them as stand up bags are made now.

For the record, I want nothing more than to help protect our environment, but is the PUSH for more paper/sustainable packaging wiping out record numbers of trees at the same time?  Cutting down more trees so we all feel we are being more "sustainable" doesn't seem like a viable option to me.  Finally, studies have shown the most effective way to help our environment is not with new cutting edge polymers and expensive formulations to be used in packaging but reduction, simple reduction of the amount of packaging used...like taking a box with a plastic bag inside and making one package, or replacing a heavy duty plastic pail with a much thinner yet just as strong stand bag, etc. 

There are environmental alternatives, good ones, and not all of them have to do with using paper...I'm just sayin'