Recycle 2 Save

Plastic grocery bags are fully recyclable and can be used in a variety of new products.. BUT (and it's a big but) many material recovery facilities that receive bags mixed in with the residential recycling will end up discarding them as trash. The equipment that processes the recycling has screens that will become clogged by the plastic bags creating a housekeeping issue (which does not allow the sorting equipment to run effectively). In some systems there have been adjustments made (air vacuum systems intended to suck the bags up) in order to assist in keeping these bags from being a potential problem but they aren't fail safe. To get the most out of plastic bag recycling place them in collection units setup to specifically recover them. Like all recycling .. the cleaner and more segregated you keep the material the more potential it has to be successfully recycled. Most grocery stores have displays/bins setup in the entrance. If your location fails to have these bins ...

Keep your recyclables in a dry, covered area that is protected from sleet, snow and rain. Items that arrive at the MRF (materials recovery facility) saturated will typically have picked up glass, dirt, and other contaminants making it less recoverable and increasing the amount that will end up in a landfill. Single stream collection specifically will significantly increase this issue but even paper that is extremely wet and/or frozen can potentially be an issue.