Recycle your used “Zip Lock” plastic storage bags. Cut-off all hard components (zippers etc.) and collect zipper-less bags in a plastic shopping bag. Recycle the shopping bag and its contents at your local retailer’s plastic bag recycling station. Help keep more LDPE (#4) plastic out of our landfills.

Just Zip It. Zipper-type plastic storage bags have hundreds of uses and are fast becoming the quintessential storage solution for households and businesses. Foods, electronic parts, garden soils, and even crime scene evidence end up packaged in these convenient, storage bags. Although millions of these bags are used daily, recycling used zipper-type plastic bags is not so easy. (more…)

When we think of recycling beverage containers, the plastic bottle or the aluminum can come to mind. The prolific use and discard of these holders of liquids has spurred us on to enact anti-litter laws, collect used bottles and cans, and to recycle. As systems to recycle beverage containers evolve, our focus (at least in the USA) seems to still revolve around the collection of PET plastic, aluminum cans, and glass. While advancements in packaging technology have brought us beverage products packaged in “long life packaging” like the Tetrapak® aseptic brick, little has been done (at least in our country) to “sort out” how these useful multi-material packages can be recycled. (more…)

Plastic as a Recycling Foundation

Is the time right for MRF World to take plastics more seriously? Should plastics be at the forefront of curbside recycling? Just as co-mingling of recyclables has made collection at curbside easier, the co-mingling of information on recovered materials may provide some answers. Trust me. We are not mixing apples and oranges; the markets do share some interesting parallels. (more…)

Tackling a Worldwide Problem
Breaking the plastic bag habit is not just a USA phenomenon. In fact, many countries worldwide enacted laws to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic bags long before cities and states within the USA began to do so. While approaches may vary, all acting governments have the common goal of changing the entrenched consumer habit of using plastic bags.

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Responsible Retailers
It doesn’t take much shopping to recognize that retail outlets are large purveyors of disposable, plastic shopping bags. Of the estimated 100 billion bags used in the USA annually, 53% are distributed by supermarkets and grocers. By offering plastic bag recycling programs, retailers are effectively increasing the collection and recycle rates of these high environmental impact totes. The spark that ignited point of sale recycling began in the USA in 2006 when the State of California adopted, The Plastic Bag Recycling Act. This law mandates that certain retail outlets be responsible for the collection, transportation, and recycling of plastic bags. Since California’s law went into effect other states have enacted or are considering similar legislation. Many grocers and pharmacies are implementing plastic bag recycling programs even before any law mandates them to do so. It seems that these retailers know that going green is not only good for the environment, it is good for business.

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To get in the habit of recycling plastic bags at your local grocer; begin by using an empty plastic bag as the storage tote for your growing used plastic bag collection.  Keep the tote hung on your coat rack where it is readily available for you to stuff with used bags or to grab on your way out the door.  When the bag is full, take it on your next shopping trip and deposit it your grocer’s plastic bag recycling bin.  Voila!

Revelation
Who doesn’t love to shop?  Even my husband gleams as he totes some new computer gizmo home in a neat little plastic bag.  It’s amazing how fast one little plastic bag after one little plastic bag can lead to hundreds of these carry-alls crammed under the kitchen sink, stuffed in the pantry or unthinkably thrown out with the trash.  Does this sound familiar?

Eco-aware that we bring loads of plastic shopping bags home, my husband and I have been collecting and carting these over offered, often taken, and underemployed plastic totes to our municipal waste facility for recycling.  We were feeling pretty good about the whole process when an upstanding facility attendant told my husband that the plastic bags collected aren’t recycled;  the station’s “Plastic Bag” recycling bin is purely for the convenience of the public who cart their newspapers, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans via plastic bags to the station.  The bin is strictly for bag disposal, not for bag recycling.  I find it amazing that throw away convenience can triumph over recycling even at a municipal recycling facility!

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