Written by: Melissa Cook (2020)

Every year, roughly 120 billion plastic bags are used by Americans.  What do you do with those bags once you’re done unloading your groceries?  Do they go in your recycling bin?  Maybe you save them in your pantry as a just in case kind of thing.  Or maybe you just habitually toss them in the trash can.  Plastic bags are actually not recyclable curbside – they need to be brought back to the grocery store for recycling.  There are approximately 18,000 plastic bag drop-off bins at major grocery store chains, including Walmart and Target, around the country.  These retailers send the plastic to those who recycle, who use the material in products such as composite decking.  What is so shocking is that enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the Earth four times.  One step to help achieve positive long-term environmental and economic advantages is The Hefty Energy Bag program.  This program collects previously hard-to-recycle plastics at curbside and converts them into valuable resources.  Waste plastics suitable for this program are converted into valuable resources, like diesel fuel, oil and wax.  These bags can be placed at the end of your driveway and will be picked up on your regularly-scheduled recycling pick-up.

The following items can go in your recycling bin, as long as they’re clean and dry — plastic bottles and containers, food and beverage cans, paper, flattened cardboard and paperboard, food and beverage containers and glass bottles and containers.  These items are not accepted in your recycling bin — bagged recyclables, plastic bags, plastic wrap and film, flexible packaging, cups with wax or plastic coatings or dirty diapers.  A lot of people think that plastic bags are okay to put in their recycling bin but do to their ability to get tangled in equipment, they are not allowed.