Plastic bag at Chatham High School April 9 2009

So here is what I found out: After the bags are collected and brought to Rotterdam they are turned into bales - which can weigh as much as 1000 lbs! (Anyone want to guess how many bags this would entail?) These bales are then sent up to a plant in either Argyle or Fort Edward. Here the bales are ground up and the bits are washed. Theses bits are then melted and turned back into a sheet of film plastic. These big rolls of film plastic are then shipped off shore to plants in places like China, India, and Pakistan where the film plastic is manufactured back into bags. I spoke to a very helpful and friendly man at one of the NY plants who explained to me that all of the bags have already been recycled before. The water used for washing the ground up bits is filtered and used over. And if I dress appropriately, he offered me a tour of the plant. An interesting process and prospect!

background

A little background info on this project: Columbia County has offered recycling since 1989 which includes curbside recycling in many towns and villages. This service isn't free. The county spends between $120,000. - $180,000. per year moving this recycling from either curbside or county transfer stations to market. Only items with either a "1" or a "2" inside the little triangle are allowed because these items are most widely accepted by recycling centers and offer stronger markets. Sometimes there is a return for the county on the recycling but not at the moment due to more material available than there are markets for it. We have recycling in our county because the county and state sees it as the right thing to do.

Unfortunately - Plastic bags commonly given out at grocery stores, etc. which are generally classified as "1" or "2" can't be included with other items for recycling. Because these are film plastic they have a different melt temperature and although the plastic bags have been recycled into plastic lumber - using the bags are problematic. Recycled materials with a number between 3 -5 are the preferred materials as the lumber tends to hold up better, fade less, etc.

We are able to "recycle" our plastic bags at the local grocery store. These bags are picked up and taken to the grocery store's main headquarters. All recycled bags are brought there from all stores and "baled." These bales then get picked up and taken to a recycling center. Stay tuned for more soon! (When I track down the name of this center, how many bags it takes to make a new bag, and what the basic process is.)

In the meantime - may I suggest that we all bring reusable bags the next time we go shopping?

The Plastic Bag Project begins....

Found on Hoffman Street, Chatham, NY March 11, 2009

The dimensions of most grocery store plastic bags are "11.5w x 21h x 6d." I plan to make a giant plastic bag (change those inches to feet!) out of plastic bags I find in my community while walking around.