Plastic Bag Recycling – Another Step Forward in Sustainability

by: Dennis Salazar

15 Dec 2009

Learn Where to Recycle Your Plastic Bags

We all like to talk about products that are recyclable but we often forget that where and how to recycle a specific item varies greatly from one geographic area to another. It isn’t just about city versus rural or California versus the rest of the country, it often differs greatly from one neighboring community or county to the next.

A friend who lives in Minneapolis recently informed me that St. Paul, the other “Twin City,” has a greatly different recycling program compared to residents of Minneapolis. This confuses the heck out of the consumers who usually want to do the right thing but are often not sure what the right thing is.

Recyclable Plastics – The Source of Much Confusion

First let me say I am not a pro or anti plastic bag person. I simply try to deal with the reality that until they are completely outlawed, people are going to use plastic bags.

I know many people hate them, ironically many of the same people who utilize a woven polypropylene (plastic) reusable bag when shopping. Much like plastic water bottles, the biggest problem I have with plastic bags is what people do or don’t do with them after they are done with them. Obviously, plastic bags should be recycled, but where?

A Terrific Sustainable Resource!

I recently found a great web site, PlasticBagRecycling.org, that makes it easy to find a place willing to take in clean, used plastic bags. I have no idea who is behind it, it may be the plastics industry or even large retailers who would prefer to continue using plastic bags but I really don’t care who owns or operates this site. What I do know is that it makes it easy for anyone who wants to recycle plastic bags to do so and I think that is great.

On the “Consumers” page you can easily select your state from a drop down menu and click on “find drop off locations” and it will provide you with a list of locations, mostly retailers who will gladly accept and recycle any plastic bags, not just theirs. I was surprised to see many locations I was not aware of, most located within a mile or two of our home and I was equally pleased to see descriptions and pictures of plastic films I did not realize I could recycle there as well.

Everyone and Everything Can Make a Difference

This site may not solve the world’s environmental problems and it will undoubtedly irk some anti-plastic bag people but I see recycling of any product as a positive alternative to waste in landfills.
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