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Plastic Bag Recycling

Why you can’t put them in your blue bin

Our Materials Recovery Facility (where recycling is sorted) is not set up to accept plastic bags. In fact, any empty plastic bags you recycle in your blue bin will get clogged up in the machinery that separates all the recyclables.

Please Note:  Shredded paper is accepted in clear plastic bags because it is the first thing pulled off the recycling line. The shredded paper is emptied into a large bunker and the plastic bags are thrown into the trash.

It’s about the markets

CSWD does not manufacture new products from recyclables. We aggregate, sort, bale and ship materials to manufacturers where they are transformed into new materials that will be sold again and made into new products. The more demand there is for these materials, the better the chance we can accept any given item for recycling.

Plastic bags belong to a material group known as “film,” and recycling film is difficult and complicated. Currently, there are no manufacturers in Vermont that use post-consumer plastic film as a feedstock, so any film that is collected has to be shipped to another state or a Canadian province.

Also, plastic bags and plastic film wrap are made from lots of different kinds of plastic, they come in all different colors with different inks printed on them, and they often have lots of non-film stuff–like labels–stuck on them.

On top of that, plastic films are often contaminated by dirt, moisture and food. Film buyers don’t like all this variation and “contamination,” and will refuse to buy material that doesn’t match their exact specifications, or will pay so little it’s not worth the expense of collection and shipment.

Lastly, it takes a LOT of one type of film to make one bale (approximately 1,100 pounds). Buyers typically are not interested in purchasing less than a tractor-trailer load–about 30,000 pounds–at a time.

What we’re doing and what you can do

We have been monitoring the plastic film markets and reviewing the logistics of collecting and aggregating film since 1992. We now have a film recycling program that’s available to businesses.

We encourage everyone to reduce the amount of film you dispose of by using reusable bags and avoiding products with plastic wrapping. You can return your plastic grocery bags, as well as some other plastic film materials, to your grocery store and some other big box stores for recycling. Please see the plastic bags section on our A-Z list for more details on what types of plastic bags may be recycled and how to prepare them.