Can You Recycle Plastic Grocery Bags

Thank you for recycling your plastic bags and wraps.

Can you recycle plastic grocery bags.

When these bags and wraps get recycled they are turned into new products such as backyard decking fences playground equipment pipes and even new plastic bags. Recycling your grocery bags the right way is easy. Find out where you can recycle all plastic bags bubble wrap and more. Plastic bags don t biodegrade meaning it will take hundreds of years for them to decompose in a landfill.

Plastic bags are among the most common sources of marine debris where they can be mistaken as food by birds and fish. The right way to recycle your grocery bags. However bags and wrappers like those that come around paper towels can be returned to the grocery store for recycling. Just return your plastic grocery bags to the location you picked them up in the first place.

It s really that simple. Plastic bags wraps and films can t be recycled in your curbside recycling bins. Any package that you see with the how2recycle store drop off label can be recycled this way. Plastic bags as common as they are are still not as widely recycled as other forms of plastic.

Plastic bags like those used for bread newspapers and as cereal box liners as well as sandwich bags dry cleaning bags and grocery bags create similar problems for recycling machinery as thin plastic film. Once the bags are recycled they are made into lumber trashcan liners or plastic bags. Some stores have temporarily halted collection of plastic bags and wraps. Can plastic grocery bags be recycled along with other recyclables s.

Plastic bag recycling also known as plastic film recycling can get tricky if you don t know what kind of plastic the bag is made of. No soft plastic cannot be recycled in most curbside recycling bins. Why recycle plastic bags. How to recycle plastic grocery bags.

Plastic grocery bags type 2 high density polyethylene film hdpe and type 4 low density or linear low density polyethylene film ldpe lldpe can be recycled at your local supermarket and other locations. According to the epa only 12 percent of the category of plastics that includes bags sacks and wraps ended up. But you can take some of these items to local retail stores where they collect plastic grocery bags for recycling. Those plastic bag recycling drop off boxes at grocery stores accept polyethylene film which includes high density polyethylene also known as hdpe or 2 plastic and low density polyethylene also known as 4.

The short answer is. Do not place them in your regular curbside recycling bin. During this covid 19 pandemic we urge you to recycle your plastic bags wraps and other film packaging at drop off locations only when and where possible. And some of you are not able to venture out.

Placing your plastic bags into the storefront bins.