To the editor:

The recent article “Why is plastic recycling so hard?” highlights some of the difficulties residents may experience when trying to recycle properly. However, it misses a key detail regarding plastic grocery bags and other plastic film products.

Although they don’t belong in curbside recycling, plastic bags are easily recyclable via the store take back program at local retailers. For years, the American companies who manufacture plastic bags (that’s right, most are made here) have worked with their retail partners to promote and expand this convenient program.

The program also offers a good home for the air pillows or stretchy pouches that come with online orders, dry-cleaning wrap, and the stretchy plastic surrounding toilet paper and similar home goods mentioned in the article. A convenient database to find a local drop-off location can be found here.

Returning these products to the store is a great way to ensure bags and other stretchy plastic films can be recovered, recycled, and remanufactured into new bags, composite lumber, railroad ties, and other materials. In the process, consumers can help minimize their footprint and support American jobs.

In the end, we agree–everything that can be recycled should be, as long as you do it right.

Zachary Taylor,

Director of the American Recyclable

Plastic Bag Alliance