In most cases, the decision is made based on the cost aspect when comparing paper bags with non-woven bags. Each type of bags has positive and negative aspects when it comes to the price factor that businesspeople need to weigh. Now let us analyze the cost of paper and non-woven bags in more detail to understand how they are like.
Material Costs
Non-woven bags are usually composed of polypropylene and therefore are classified as plastic bags. Polypropylene is made from byproducts of oil and natural gases and therefore the base material price depends on the price of these two components. However it should however be noted that, polypropylene on its own is relatively cheaper as compared to the other plastics.
Paper bags are made of paper pulp that comes from the wood so they can not be considered as fully environmentally friendly. Paper pulp is a raw material for making paper, and its procurement is dependent on the price of wood and the availability of the material. Paper pulp has been on the rise recently due to the scarcities that have faced the wood pulp. All in all however, paper pulp is generally less expensive compared to polypropylene plastic per pound.
Winner: Paper bags
Production Costs
Non-woven bags are made through a process of heating polypropylene filaments, and combining them through heat and pressure to create a solid material that mimics fabric. This process is relatively very fast and can be perceived to be cheap to the manufacturers financially.
Paper bags can take a longer time through the process of which involves pulping the wood as well as using chemicals and water to obtain the wood fibers. These fibers are then bleached and cleaned before being plied through huge paper making machines. The major challenges that come with the use of the paper bags include high labor energy and equipment cost in the production process.
Winner: Non-woven bags
Printing & Design Costs
Regarding the features, the main benefit is that paper bags are easier and cheaper to print on. Traditional flexography offers tremendous potential for cost-efficient full and multicolor graphics, logos, and text application on paper bags.
Inkjet digital printing requires a different approach to printing designs on non-woven bags and is more costly and slower than when printing designs directly on the bags. Some non-woven bags can have simple designs infused right into them during the production, but this does not allow for the complex printing of full color designs.
Winner: Paper bags
Size & Shape of the Bag
Non-woven polypropylene fabric makes it possible to manufacture bags in many sizes and styles. Said bottoms can also be shaped to make rectangular bottoms to enable the formation of block style bottom bags through alteration of the production process. This material flexibility makes non-woven bags suitable to be customized depending on their intended purpose.
The standard dimensions of the paper bags as well as their shapes are also strictly predefined. This means that customization of paper bags to different odd shapes and sizes is a challenge due to the wet paper production process. For the basic paper grocery sack sizes and shapes, paper has been proven superior but to get that special design one has to part with more.
Winner: Non-woven bags
Durability Differences
Polypropylene non-woven fabric is water resistant due to the nature of polypropylene fabric and, although most of it is recyclable, it is extremely sturdy- capable of being used for dozens or hundreds of times, if cared for properly. This material is almost impossible to tear and lasts longer than paper especially when it is constantly handled. Non-woven bags may also be expensive initially compared to their cheaper counterparts, however, the longevity of non-woven bags makes them cheaper to use per use.
In another case, paper bags are known to be easily affected or compromised by a small amount of water or humidity. The thin ones usually only last a few uses, and the material gets too worn or even rips if it is not treated very carefully. Thus, by design, paper bags have always being used with the understanding that they are meant for single use only. This is quite useful especially for one time use but it is quite expensive when it comes to the long run bag use.
Winner: Non-woven bags
Reusability Benefits
Among the most popular and conventional types of bags that are earth-friendly, non-woven bags can be used multiple times for grocery purposes, storage, or anything else. Due to the fact that non-woven bags are designed to be long-lasting, therefore, the cost per usage greatly reduces as the bags continue to be used.
On the other hand, paper bags are all the more disposable and are often associated with negative consequences. They can technically be reused a few times provided that they are handled with a lot of care and they will degenerate fast and have to be discarded. Due to the one-time use nature of paper, there are no such advantages of reusability that could reduce costs.
Winner: Non-woven bags
Recyclability Differences
However, if we have to compare the sustainability features of paper bags over non-woven bags, there is clear victory to paper bags in terms of recyclability. Being made from paper, these bags can be picked up with other papers and other wastepaper products and remade into usable paper pulp and other products. There is a reason that recycling programs for paper are common while paper bag costs and effects remain low.
Nonetheless, most non-woven bags find their way to the landfill facilities after they have been disposed by consumers since many municipal recycling programs accept polypropylene products. While a small but increasing number of special recyclers and plastic production manufacturers are able to convert used non-woven bags into original material, the choices are still limited for the time being.
Winner: Paper bags
Conclusions
When putting into consideration the production costs, excluding other factors such as the cost of materials used in the making of the non-woven polypropylene bags are cheaper to make than the traditional kraft paper bags. However, on the areas of design, paper bags are cheaper than plastic ones especially in options such as printing. The most significant factor of the two however is the lifespan and reusability where non-woven bag’s lifespan has a far better return on investment.
Thus, for something that is truly designed to be used only once and then discarded, paper bags would be the most cost-effective. Still, the conflict costs associated with paper’s non-returnable or recycling nature makes non-woven bag capable of competing for business with customer durability and eco-friendly recycle frequency. Every time one is choosing between a paper and non-woven bag, it is important to think about the immediate cost and how much it will add up in the long run. Each of them needs to be analyzed in terms of all the operational and marketing features to understand which is cheaper for given business tasks.