King County encourages plastic bag recycling through annual ‘bag your bags’ campaign

In an effort to cut this waste of a recyclable resource, the King County Solid Waste Division and local grocery retailers have kicked off the second-annual “Bag your Bags. Bring ‘em Back” plastic bag recycling campaign.

The message is a simple one: The best way to recycle plastic bags is to bring them back to a grocery store.

“Most people have a stash of plastic bags at home, and the best way to recycle them is  to stuff them clean and dry in a single bag  and bring them back to your local grocery store,” said Karen May, King County Solid Waste Division program manager.

May said some communities accept plastic bags in curbside recycling carts, but plastic bags and film collected at grocery stores stays cleaner and are easier to process. The bags and film are made into new products like decking, benches, playground structures and new plastic bags.

For the next month, participating grocery stores will be promoting the “Bag your Bags. Bring ‘em Back.” campaign to encourage shoppers to stuff their plastic bags from home into a single bag, tie it up and drop them into a plastic bag collection container in the stores.

“Plastic grocery sacks aren’t the only type of bag you can now recycle at the grocery store,” May said. “You can also drop off clean and dry produce bags, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, bubble wrap, even the plastic wrapping from products such as toilet paper and paper towels.”

Participating 2011 “Bag your Bags. Bring ‘em Back” retailers include Fred Meyer, QFC, Top Food & Drug and the Duvall Family Grocer.
 
For more information, visit www.bagyourbags.com.

Related information

Bag your bags

King County Solid Waste