You may not know that the question of paper or plastic is a far bigger question for eco friendly conscious people than you would think. The use of plastic bags is much more rampant in the market than paper bags because of many reasons and one such reason is that the cost of plastic bags is much less than the paper bags.
Manufacturing of Paper Bags:
The manufacturing of paper bags is a long and complicated process. These bags are made from the trees and they have their environmental cost as well. The use of trees for making these bags is not good for the environment and the forest habitat. This results into long run damage to the ecology. Also the cutting down of trees and carrying them to the manufacturing units requires the use of heavy machinery and the transportation then consumes much of the fuel. After these trees reach the desired place, there is a long process of drying the trees and extracting the pulp, then bleaching and washing of the pulp and adding the color, etc. This whole process requires a lot of resources which can be otherwise utilized for better reasons.
After Use of Paper bags:
There are different possibilities like either you can compost them or throw them or you can recycle these bags. The recycling is again a complicated and tricky process and requires the use of a lot of resources again.
Manufacturing of Plastic Bags:
Plastic bags are made completely differently from the paper bags. Plastic bags are the side products of oil and are produced by the refining process of oil. The big resource input which is used in the production of plastic bags is the energy in the form of electricity.
Recycling of the Plastic Bags:
Plastic bags are recycled but it is not an easy process and requires the melting and casting of the plastic again. This is also an energy consuming process and after the recycling, the quality of the plastic gets hard and this cannot be recycled again.
Which bag to use: Paper or Plastic?
The comparison between these two bags can be made by looking at the energy consumption, environment emissions and all other costs of recycling and production. According to some statistics, plastic bags are better as they consume less amount of energy and other air emissions while paper bags consume more resources than the plastic bags.
So to support the go green cause, the bags which consume less of the resources should be used.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Paper Bags or Plastic bags: Every Thing You Need to Know
Saturday, January 9, 2010
What is the Market Prices of Gold Per Ounce
The market price of an ounce of gold is most commonly expressed in the "spot price" of gold.
The spot price of gold is the price of a troy ounce of gold. The spot price is the price a buyer should expect to pay for an ounce of gold for immediate delivery.
It should be noted that individual buyers cannot generally obtain gold at the spot price. This is because gold is available to buyers in various forms, such as coins and bars, which require fabrication and transport. The added cost of fabrication and transport, plus mark ups for dealer profits result in a price greater than the spot price.
The spot price of gold is available to idividuals in a wide variety of media. It has been quoted in newspapers, from The Wall Street Journal to your local business section, each day for decades. It is reported on various business television news networks, such as Bloomberg, CNBC and Fox Business Channel. The spot price is also reported occasionally on radio news programs.
And, of course, the price of gold is available from many sources on the internet, including ITM Trading's web site at ITMTrading.com. ITM Trading provides free current price indications for Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium. In addition to current price indications, ITM Trading shows the change from the previous New York market close and the Afternoon London market "fix" ("PM Fix).
Note that the gold market never sleeps. Gold is truly a currency without a country in that it trades somewhere 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Active gold markets exist in Chicago, New York, London, Zurich, Istanbul, Dubai, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and elsewhere. Gold is usually priced in US dollars in most quotes published in the media, but it is often quoted in the local currency in these various locales and, due to changes in the relative value of international currencies, the value, and even direction of movement, of the price of gold can vary from locale to locale.
For instance, during the "Asian Contagion" of 1997-98, the price of gold in many Asian currencies rose sharply, even while it hit multiyear lows in terms of the US dollar.
Still, for most Americans, the spot price of gold expressed in US dollars is the ideal gauge of activity in the gold market.
At this point, one might be wondering about the "PM Fix," sometimes referred to as the "London fix."
London has historically been one of the world's financial centers of gravity. This was especially true of the gold market during the height of the British Empire. Not only did the sun never set on the British Empire, but the sun never set on the gold market either.
For that reason, the price of gold in London has always been an important benchmark for the gold market. Starting way back in 1919, the five major members of the London gold exchange met to settle the price of gold at the open and close of the market.
The fixing was suspended between 1939 and 1954 due to World War II and post-war government controls on the price of gold as a result of the Bretton Woods agreement.
Even today, the price of gold is fixed in London at the open of the market (AM Fix) and the close of the market (PM Fix) by the five largest members of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). Those members are Scotia-Mocatta, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Societe Generale. This London fixing is still the primary guide off of which the other gold markets around the world guide.
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