Please recycle ALL of your plastic bags!!!
If your neighbourhood does not collect plastic bags in your recycle bin then bring them to
your local grocery store for recycling -bin is usually in the entryway. (Metro, Loblaws, Walmart and many ohters are collecting) check here for the place nearest you http://www.plasticfilmrecycling.org/s01/s01dropoff.html
How Stretchy Plastic Bags Are Recycled:
- They take empty, used stretchy bags
- They wash them, dry them, and chop them up.
- They mix in some virgin resin, then melt them down into pellets which are then sold to manufacturers.
- The pellets are then used to make new items - see photos below
Did you know?
- That due to advances in technology, plastic shopping bags can be recycled into new bags or plastic lumber products like sub-laminate flooring, park benches, picnic tables and decking.
- That the market for recycled plastic bags is worth $2 billion and growing at 14% per year. And now demand for rcycled resin is so great, supply cannot keep up with demand.
- That most plastic shopping bags produced today contain recycled content.
- That plastic lumber lasts longer than wood, doesn't rot or splinter, is slip-resistant, resists pests and it too can be recycled.
- There is strong capacity to recycle plastic shopping bags right here in Canada. They do not have to be sent overseas like reusable bags to be recycled.
- More and more cities across Canada are now collecting plastic bags as part of curbside collection and most other cities have drop off locations at places like grocery stores.
- Recycling rates are soaring due to massive investments. A network of major recyclers of plastic bags and film now exists across the country and continues to grow – Merlin Plastics in Western Canada, EFS-Plastics in Ontario, and Inteplast in Atlantic Canada.
Click here for more info: http://www.plastics.ca/Recycling/PlasticBags/index.php
According to the Canadian Plastics Association
Myth: Biodegradable plastic shopping bags in landfill are good for the environment.
Reality: Any type of degradable materials in landfill could do more harm than good.
By decomposing, biodegradables in landfill release leachates into groundwater and methane into the atmosphere – a potent greenhouse gas that traps over 21 times more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. In fact, countries around the world are restricting the amount of biodegradable material going to landfill sites.
Independent waste audit studies show that 50% of plastic shopping bags are reused for waste going to landfill. These bags, if made biodegradable, will likely decompose – when the objective is to reduce the amount of biodegradable materials in landfill.
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