Plastic bags are a nuisance to many recycling facilities.

Did you know that many recycling facilities do not accept plastic bags?  Though it seems counterintuitive, one of the best ways to help your municipality’s recycling efforts is to know what NOT to put into your recycling bin. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS3Gm-K1GO4

Recyclables entering a single stream recycling process are sorted by automated equipment.  When plastic bags become wrapped around sorting disks, the equipment can no longer sort efficiently.  This results in staff having to routinely halt production  to clear the bags away from the sorting disks. 

Lisa Disbrow, Director of Public Affairs for Waste Management's CID Recycling Center in Chicago, cites that the problems arising from plastic bags account for tens of thousands of dollars in added costs to the recycling process.  In addition to the incease in processing costs, clogs in the recycling equipment can cause mixed bales, which cannot be used by manufacturers and must be re-processed.

The moral of the story is to keep those plastic bags out of your recycling bin.  You can rest at ease that your plastic bags will do more harm than good in the recycling bin.  On the other hand, please DO make sure that your paper grocery bags go into the recycling bin as they are widely accepted and easily recycled.

SOURCE:
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20161219/lincoln-square/plastic-bag-recycling-blue-cart-waste-management
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS3Gm-K1GO4

Plastic is out - Paper and Reusable Bags are in.

California passed a statewide ban on single-use plastic carryout bags.

GET THE FACTS on Proposition 67 “The Plastic Bag Ban.”

  • SENATE BILL 270 – In 2014 the California legislature passed Senate Bill 270, which prohibited certain businesses statewide from providing single-use plastic carryout bags and required businesses to charge customers for any other type of carryout bag provided at checkout.

  • PROPOSITION 67 – The implementation of Senate Bill 270 was suspended, because Proposition 67, which would eliminate the law, qualified to be on the 2016 ballot.  Proposition 67 asked California voters to decide whether the statewide carryout bag law should be upheld or rejected. On November 8, 2016, California’s voters passed Proposition 67, which upheld Senate Bill 270.

  • IMPACTS - Proposition 67 prohibits certain California stores (most grocery stores, convenience stores, large pharmacies, and liquor stores) from providing single-use plastic carryout bags statewide.

  • PAPER AND REUSABLE BAGS – Proposition 67 allows businesses to sell recycled paper bags and reusable bags at a minimum price of $.10 cents per bag.

  • EXCLUDES – Proposition 67 excludes bags for select purposes, such as wrapping unwashed produce and bags for prescription medications.  It also excludes certain types of stores such as retail clothing stores.  Certain low- income customers are also exempt.

  • FINES - ($1,000) per day for the first violation, two thousand dollars ($2,000) per day for the second violation, and five thousand dollars ($5,000) per day for the third and subsequent violations.

  • SUPPORTERS – Albertsons Safeway, The California Grocers Association, Surfrider Foundation, Clean Water Action.

CASE STUDY: San Jose California
San Jose’s Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance went into effect January 1, 2012.  Since then San Jose has reported a 76% reduction in plastic bags found in creeks and rivers as of the end of the 2016 hotspot season and a 69% reduction in plastic bags in storm drain inlets.

SOURCES:
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/consumer-products-passage-california-s-proposition-67-question-would-you-paper-or
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/california-plastic-bag-ban-survives-ballot-referendum
http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/en/propositions/67/arguments-rebuttals.htm
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/index.aspx?NID=5261