I was taking our trash out to the street last week when our neighbor reminded me there was nourish pick-up that day because of the holiday. I thanked him and wheeled it back. The day after the holiday I was still in my pajamas when the Waste Management truck came down the street. I dressed quickly and carried our two recycle bins out to the truck. We usually separate our paper and plastic even though another neighbor, one who enjoys engaging the trash truck operator in conversation, told us that we no longer have to separate the two. It all gets done automatically at the facility.
For years we have been putting the flimsy plastic bags that our newspapers come in in the box and we had those shrink-wrap and the seal they use under yogurt tops and a plastic bag from some take-out all in our our box of plastic. I hand the box to the operator and he looked inside of it and said, “Plastic bags are not recyclable.” Incredulous, I said, “They’re not?” He looked right at me and said, “No, they’re not.” Plastic bags made of recycled plastic are not recyclable? What am I missing?
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Some dog walkers are the epitome of plastic bag recycling.
Plastic bags are recyclable, just different collection and processing than offered by roadside pickup. Wegmans entryways have bins marked “clean plastic bags”.
If your interested:
https://livegreen.recyclebank.com/because-you-asked-can-i-recycle-plastic-grocery-bags-in-the-recycling-bin