[SustainableTompkins] use of plastic bags

[marlo capoccia]

hello all,
i haven't had much success getting feedback from this list, but  
thought i'd try one more time.  i am planning to use plastic bags for  
some marketing and cannot think of any way around it.  i have found  
some recycled plastic bags and some biodegradable plastic bags.  it  
seems to me that the recycled plastic bags are most likely to end up  
in garbage and in the end it won't really matter that they were  
recycled because they'll end up in the same place as the regular  
plastic bags.  plus i understand the recycling process to be a fairly  
energy-intensive process (though not as great as a new bag?).

the biodegradable bags i'm looking at (mostly corn-based) say they do  
not contain chemicals that hurt the soil and can be composted.  i  
haven't found much clear analysis of this because there are so many  
different types of biodegradable bags.

i realize that the issue of energy consumption is not addressed at  
all by using biodegradable bags.  i have no idea what to do about  
this.  pretty much any marketing i do, even just straight-on paper  
marketing, uses a great deal of energy resources.  my solution to  
this is to use as little of this type of marketing, but in the  
beginning it is a big piece.

so my questions really have to do with lesser of two evils:  
recyclable vs. biodegradable.  or, if anyone knows of other bag  
possibilities that would be great.  i'm using reusable bags for the  
actual delivery of the product, but cannot afford to do this for  
marketing.

thanks,
marlo