News Release

U.S. Recycling of Plastic Bags and Film Reaches Record High in 2007

Plastics Makers Seek Continued Growth through Legislation and Consumer Education

ARLINGTON, VA (February 5, 2009) – The recycling of bags and film increased across the United States in 2007, reaching a record high and continuing a growing national recycling trend.  The boost in recycling is driven by greater consumer access to recycling programs, primarily at large grocery and retail stores, as well as by new markets for these recycled materials.

An estimated 830,180,000 pounds of post-consumer film (including plastic bags and product wraps) was recovered in 2007, according to the latest National Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic Bags and Film Report conducted by Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. of Sonoma, California. This represents a 27 percent increase from 652,477,000 pounds recovered in 2005. 

The report notes that these numbers are likely to be conservative given the shift toward export markets that occurred during 2007 and the challenge of collecting survey data from export buyers.  Data collection was also affected by the rapid spike in the number of collection programs as many stores launched new programs to recover post-consumer plastic bags and product wraps from their customers.

“More Americans are recycling plastic bags and film than ever before, driven by a growing recognition that plastic is a valuable resource – too valuable to waste,” said Steve Russell, managing director for ACC’s Plastics Division.  “Recovered plastic bags and wraps can be recycled into many useful products, including durable backyard decking, fencing, railings, shopping carts and, of course, new bags.  Increased recycling of bags and film is good for business and good for the economy.”

“ACC will continue to work with grocers, retailers, communities and policymakers around the country to promote plastic recycling and drive rates even higher for the future,” Russell said.  
  
“Over the past several years, Trex has processed and used a tremendous amount of recycled plastic, and that demand has led us to partner with the public and private sector on innovative recycling programs,” said Dave Heglas of TREX, a northern Virginia company that uses recycled plastic bags to manufacture green building materials. “We have recycled over 2.5 billion pounds of plastic over the last 10 years into lumber substitutes for outdoor decks.”

The value of recycled plastic is leading to new innovations in the bag industry too. Hilex Poly, a leading plastic bag manufacturer, established a program that recycles old bags into new ones called Bag-2-Bag®.  The program encourages consumers to bring their used bags back to the store and then the store and Hilex do the rest.  Last year Hilex’s work with consumers and stores recycled the equivalent of 400 million bags and reduced the use of new material by 8 million pounds.

According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, about 12 percent of plastic bags and film are recycled annually.¹  While composite lumber continues to be the major market for recycled plastic bags and film, 2007 saw a notable increase in the amount of post-consumer recycled film that went into new film and sheet applications. 

Access to plastic bag recycling programs continues to increase. At-store collection programs are now located in grocery and retail stores in all fifty states.  Legislation requiring stores to offer collection bins for plastic bags and wraps has been enacted in California and New York, and other states and individual municipalities will consider similar measures this year. 

More information on plastic bag recycling is available at www.plasticbagrecycling.org/.

¹ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Municipal Waste in the United States: 2007 Facts and Figures (p. 52, Table 7). See: http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw07-rpt.pdf