IndyStar: Paper or plastic? Most Indianapolis shoppers choose least environmentally friendly bags

Read the full story by Sarah Bowman and Robert Scheer here.

Paper or plastic — we all know the question. It conjures images of conveyor belts, sounds of beeps as items are scanned and maybe even smells of fresh mint as you wait in line near the packs of gum. 

Here at IndyStar, we wanted to know how Hoosiers across Indianapolis and surrounding areas answered that question. 

Plastic pollution is a big problem — huge, even — and plastic bags are a big piece of that. Across the globe, people use as much as 5 trillion plastic bags each year. That’s over 700 per year for every person on the planet, according to The World Counts, an organization that pulls data from a variety of sources. Even more, it’s estimated that each plastic bag is used for only 12 minutes, on average