Recycling Plastic Bags

Despite my best efforts to carry small reuseable bags in my purse for unexpected purchases and to take larger, sturdier bags on all of my grocery shopping trips, I still end up with plastic grocery bags at my house. I keep a few of them around in case I need to empty the litter box or properly dispose of a broken CFL. If I get more than ten or so, I put them aside to be recycled.

After establishing this pattern at home, my husband started adding all sorts of plastic bags to my recycling collection. Bags from other stores, bags from bread and other grocery items, bags from the dry cleaners, etc. Soon, I followed suit.

I normally take my bags to the midtown Schnucks for recycling. The container is provided by Trex, a decking and railing manufacturer. The bin clearly stated that the bags would be used in their product so I figured it was okay to add a few extra non-Schnucks bags. I also noticed that I wasn't the only person doing this.

My husband makes frequently trips to Kroger and when I found out they offered recycling too, I asked him to take my bag collection along. Later when he returned with the bags he said that the Kroger bin specifically said "grocery bags only."

So then I started to wonder whether my assumption about the plastic bag recycling bin at Schnucks was a good one.

After talking to the manager at Schnucks and reviewing Trex's website, I learned that my assumptions were correct. Turns out Trex has a lot of excellent Environmentally Friendly Practices.

Here are a few facts:

Trex keeps some 300,000 tons of plastic and wood scrap out of landfills every year--that comes to about 600,000,000 pounds saved annually!

NO TREES ARE CUT DOWN for the purpose of making Trex.

Trex recycles all forms of polyethylene.

Trex is one of the largest plastic bag recyclers in the United States.

So, please continue to use your own bags whenever possible, but know that the plastic bags (all of them!) that still find their way into your life can be recycled at all area Schnucks.