Plastic bags slow down the recycling stream

You have likely heard how contamination is threatening the recycling industry. People frequently ask me what the biggest issues are with contamination.

The photo above demonstrates the No. 1 issue: plastic bags.

When placed in your recycling cart, plastic shopping bags, dry cleaning bags and case wrap get caught up in the sorting screens at our material recovery facility (MRF). At least twice a day, WM shuts down operations to cut away the plastic bags.

While you can’t recycle these plastic bags curbside, PlasticFilmRecycling.org shares dozens of locations where you can drop them off for specialty vendors to recycle.

– Stephanie Kissinger, Waste Management