Plastic bag

A flexible container made from plastic film, used chiefly to carry or store goods. Its thin walls make it lightweight and inexpensive but often difficult to reuse or recycle.

Polyethylene: A family of thermoplastic polymers made from ethylene, widely used in packaging and containers. Low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene are the main plastics used for shopping bags.
Heat sealing: A method of joining thermoplastic materials by applying heat and pressure to their surfaces. Heat seals close the bottom and sides of many bags made from plastic film.
Shopping bag: A bag used to carry purchases from a store or market. The familiar checkout bag is one of the most widespread forms of plastic bag.
Plastic bag ban: A law or policy that prohibits or restricts the distribution or use of plastic bags. Governments use bans to reduce bag consumption and litter.
Sten Gustaf Thulin: A Swedish engineer credited with inventing the modern one-piece plastic shopping bag in the early 1960s. His design used a continuous tube of plastic film to make a strong, lightweight carrier.
Plastic film: A thin, continuous sheet of plastic used in packaging, agriculture, construction, and other applications. Plastic bags are formed from film rather than rigid molded plastic.
Handle (packaging): A grip or opening incorporated into packaging to make it easier to carry by hand. Die-cut and loop handles concentrate stress where a loaded bag is most likely to tear.
Garbage bag: A bag designed to line waste containers or hold refuse for disposal. Its thicker film and larger size suit waste collection rather than carrying purchases.
Extended producer responsibility: A policy approach that makes producers responsible for managing products after consumer use. It can shift some costs of collecting and managing bag waste to producers.
Cellophane: A transparent film made from regenerated cellulose, developed for packaging in the early twentieth century. Cellophane was an earlier flexible packaging film, but it is not a synthetic plastic.

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Paper bagCompared with: Plastic bags are a common alternative with different water resistance and reuse characteristics.