During the days of November 14th-18th, 2017 The La Porte County Solid Waste District was able to collect over 263 pounds of plastic bags that equal out to roughly 21,303 bags at our recent America Recycles Bag Exchange Events. The District was able to exchange participant’s plastic bags for reusable bags to use for future shopping.
“This year we expanded to include two South county communities by holding events at the La Crosse Public Library and the Wanatah Town Hall,” said Sacha Gee-Burns, the District’s Environmental Educator/ Public Outreach Coordinator. “We want to make sure that our programs are available to all residents of La Porte County, not just the Northern half.”
The bag exchanges are part of a larger Nationwide campaign “America Recycles Day” which falls on November 15th. Gee-Burns says “The main reason that we choose to hold these events is to keep plastic bags from becoming litter on the side of the roads or tangled up in the trees. They are so lightweight that they tend to end up everywhere. And that’s a problem, especially when they can be recycled.”
The totals of the five events are as follows:
- Al’s Supermarket La Porte- East Lincolnway 121.5lbs = 9,841 bags
- Al’s Supermarket Michigan City- Karwick Plaza 27lbs = 2,187 bags
- Al’s Supermarket Michigan City- South Franklin 67.5lbs = 5467 bags
- La Crosse Public Library La Crosse- 17lbs = 1,377 bags
- Wanatah Town Hall Wanatah- 27lb = 2,187 bags
The La Porte County Solid Waste District does not accept plastic bags as a part of their curbside recycling program. However, many stores offer receptacles at the front of their stores for plastic bags to placed into to be recycled. From there the bags are able to be recycled into various items. Many go on to become fleece apparel, plastic hangers, engineered lumber, and some even are turned into new plastic bags again.
This year the District has teamed up with Trex decking and will be accepting plastic bags in their lobby located at 2857 W. State Road 2, La Porte as part of the Community Challenge program that Trex offers. They are trying to collect 500 pounds or more of plastic bags before Earth Day, April 22nd, 2018. If the 500-pound minimum is met the Solid Waste District will be awarded a bench from Trex to be placed in our community.
Great help went into making this event successful. La Porte County Solid Waste would like to thank their sponsors for this event including Al’s Supermarkets for providing reusable bags as well as locations to hold our events, La Crosse Public Library and Wanatah Town Hall also for use of their locations and help in advertising the events, Tradebe, Waste Management, and Republic for donating reusable bags for us to use in our exchange. Thank you also to everyone that brought in bags and plastic films to be recycled, because of you 21, 303 bags will not become litter or end up in the landfill this time around.