The last Recyclinator said no plastic bags at curbside or the transfer station. A reader wanted to know, “why not?” For those who have curbside pickup, Waste Management (your service provider) clearly states on its website: NO GOOD – Toss these out! Plastic bags, plastic food wrappers. They instruct you to “place mixed papers in any brown paper bag, or bundle with string.”
The city's webpage for the transfer station and recycling center also state no plastic bags.
Beyond the rules, there are some other good reasons not to toss plastic bags into recycling bins. Most likely, they will not get recycled. In down markets for recycling commodities, like what we are now experiencing, they will get trashed or incinerated once they reach the recycling facility.
The bags are made of low-grade plastic and have less value to purchasers of recyclables. They must be separated from the rest of the load before the load is sorted on the conveyor belt system. If the bags slip through, they can stop the sorting process if they become wrapped around the machinery.
The good news is you don't have to toss your plastic bags. As I have previously mentioned, the grocery stores gladly accept them. In fact, they will take any plastic bags you have – think newspaper sleeves, plastic packaging on paper goods like toilet paper or paper towels, bread bags, shaken of crumbs, department store bags – just to name a few.
The stores collect and send the bags to their warehouses. When they are accumulated in huge quantities, they become valuable to companies like Trex. Trex purchases half the used bags available in the commodities market to manufacture home composite decking.
Remember, the idea is to avoid plastic bags as much as possible. For the ones that do slip into your life, recycle them properly and be a friend to the environment.
