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A paper bag is a bag made out of paper. Paper bags are commonly used as shopping bags.
Contents
History
In 1852, Francis Wolle, a schoolteacher, invented the first machine to mass-produce paper bags. Wolle and his brother patented the machine and founded the Union Paper Bag Company.
In 1871, inventor Margaret E. Knight designed a machine that could create flat-bottomed paper bags, which could carry more than the previous envelope-style design.
In 1883, Charles Stilwell patented a machine that made square-bottom paper bags with pleated sides, making them easier to fold and store. This style of bag came to be known as the S.O.S., or "Self-Opening Sack."
In 1912, Walter Deubener, a grocer in St. Paul, Minnesota, used cord to reinforce paper bags and add carrying handles. These "Deubener Shopping Bags" could carry up to 75 pounds at a time, and became quite popular, selling over a million bags a year by 1915. Paper bags with handles later became the standard for department stores, and were often printed with the store's logo or brand colors.
Plastic bags were introduced in the 1970s, and thanks to their lower cost, eventually replaced paper bags as the bag of choice for grocery stores. With the trend towards phasing out lightweight plastic bags, though, some grocers and shoppers have switched back to paper bags.
In 2015, the world's largest paper shopping bag was made in the UK and recorded by Guinness World Records.
Production
Standard brown paper bags are made from kraft paper. Tote-style paper bags, such as those often used by department stores or as gift bags, can be made from any kind of paper, and come in any color. Paper bags can be made from recycled paper, with some local laws requiring bags to have a minimum percentage of post-consumer recycled content.
Litho – printed for the best result. Very nice and sharp colors can be printed by lithographic technique in production of laminated paper bags.
Paper Bags Consumption in United Kingdom
The number of single-use plastic bags used by shoppers in England has plummeted by more than 85% after the introduction of a 5p charge last October, early figures suggest.
More than 7bn bags were handed out by seven main supermarkets in the year before the charge, but this figure plummeted to slightly more than 500m in the first six months after the charge was introduced, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
The data is the government’s first official assessment of the impact of the charge, which was introduced to help reduce litter and protect wildlife - and the expected full-year drop of 6bn bags was hailed by ministers as a sign that it is working.
The charge has also triggered donations of more than £29m from retailers towards good causes including charities and community groups, according to Defra. England was the last part of the UK to adopt the 5p levy, after successful schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Retailers with 250 or more full-time equivalent employees have to charge a minimum of 5p for the bags they provide for shopping in stores and for deliveries, but smaller shops and paper bags are not included. There are also exemptions for some goods, such as raw meat and fish, prescription medicines, seeds and flowers and live fish.
Around 8m tonnes of plastic makes its way into the world’s oceans each year, posing a serious threat to the marine environment. Experts estimate that plastic is eaten by 31 species of marine mammals and more than 100 species of sea birds.
The environment minister, Therese Coffey, said: “Taking 6bn plastic bags out of circulation is fantastic news for all of us,. It will mean our precious marine life is safer, our communities are cleaner and future generations won’t be saddled with mountains of plastic taking hundreds of years to breakdown in landfill sites.
Paper Bags Manufacture and Supplier in United Kingdom
Single layer
Paper shopping bags, brown paper bags, grocery bags, paper bread bags and other light duty bags have a single layer of paper. A variety of constructions and designs are available. Many are printed with the names of stores and brands. Paper bags are not waterproof. Types of paper bag are: laminated, twisted, flat tap. The laminated bag, whilst not totally waterproof, has a laminate that protects the outside to some degree.
Multiwall paper sacks
Multiwall (or multi-wall) paper sacks or shipping sacks are often used as shipping containers for bulk materials such as fertilizer, animal feed, sand, dry chemicals, flour and cement. Many have several layers of sack papers, printed external layer and inner plies. Some paper sacks have a plastic film, foil, or polyethylene coated paper layer in between as a water-repellant, insect resistant, or rodent barrier.
There are two basic designs of bags: open mouth bags and valve bags. An open mouth bag is a tube of paper plies with the bottom end sealed. The bag is filled though the open mouth and then closed by stitching, adhesive, or tape. Valve sacks have both ends closed and are filled through a valve. A typical example of a valve bag is the cement sack.
Recycling
Paper bags are readily recyclable. Plastic or water-resistant coatings or layers make recycling more difficult.