Bag boss terms ban "irrational hysteria"

To bag or not to bag? David Tyson, Chief Executive, Packaging and Films Association, goes head to head with activists in the Telegraph.

In the reduce, re-use, recycle hierarchy, the plastic bag has a better score than all so-called environmentally-friendly alternatives - provided we keep on re-using it.
Life cycle analyses of paper, as a replacement for plastic bags, show that far greater pollution occurs in their manufacture and transportation across the globe than plastic which is ten times lighter and thinner.
Similar concerns apply to shipping heavy and bulky cotton bags from Asia - and environmentalists should have serious reservations about the working conditions in which they are made.

How long will it take us to get to the bottom of this and similar environmental arguments?