The La Porte County Solid Waste District educated residents about the right way to recycle plastic bags this month, taking in more than 14,000 plastic bags for recycling during its four bag swap events at Al’s Supermarkets to celebrate America Recycles Day.
“It’s very important for people to know that we no longer accept loose plastic bags in our recycling program, and these events gave me a chance to explain why to hundreds of residents,” said Alicia Ebaugh, the District’s education and public outreach coordinator. “It’s even more important that everyone knows they can bring plastic bags back to many stores to be recycled.”
Ebaugh used these events to promote the fact that all Al’s Supermarket locations now accept plastic bags for recycling year-round, but she noted that they can also be taken to other stores like Meijer, Kroger, WalMart and Carson’s. Not only are grocery bags acceptable to recycle, but you can also include with them clean and dry retail, newspaper, dry cleaning, bread, produce, and other plastic bags labeled #2 and #4; plastic food storage bags; furniture and electronic wrap; and case wrap used on paper towels, diapers, bathroom tissue and water bottles.
The sheer number of plastic bags – about 100 billion - used each year in the United States is astounding, Ebaugh said. That figures out to about 313 per person, so she said a family of four might go through about 1,250 single-use plastic bags per year. The amount collected would have been used by only about 45 residents over one year.
“We bring plastic bags home from pretty much anywhere we shop for food, clothes and other items, our newspapers are often wrapped in them, and we even buy more to simply throw away,” Ebaugh said. “Plastic bags may be convenient, but when our county can go through more than 34 million of them in a year, it's time to start thinking about ways to reduce the amount of waste we create.”
Most of all, though, the District used these events to promote reuse, she said, giving out about 250 reusable bags to residents in exchange for these plastic bags during the events.
“When you make the switch to reusable bags for shopping, you not only reduce waste, you reduce the amount of litter that ends up in our communities,” Ebaugh said.
The amount of bags collected for recycling at this year’s events was less than last year, but Ebaugh said she hopes this proves that the District’s education efforts are working.
“We've been educating on the proper way to recycle plastic bags - at the store - for a year now, and many participants said they've been doing just that,” she said. “Plus, those who have gotten reusable bags are using them, reducing the number of plastic bags they are bringing in even more.”
The District would like to thank Al’s Supermarkets for their continued partnership on these events, and other sponsors including Keep America Beautiful and Republic Services.