Plastic bags contaminate recycling

Oak Parkers are among the best at diverting materials into recycling and away from landfills. But many of us also are guilty of a common practice that is driving up costs and driving down the value of the community’s curbside recycling program — putting single-use plastic bags into the blue carts.

Single-use plastic bags can be recycled into new materials, but most curbside recycling programs lack the collection system and processing equipment to handle them. Clean plastic bags should be returned to grocery stores and big-box retailers for proper recycling.

So what happens to those plastic bags tossed into the recycling bin when they make it to the processing plant? Most likely they will end up wrapped around equipment, bringing the processing line to a halt and requiring workers to remove the bags by hand in a harrowing experience that sometimes occurs multiple times a day.

The bags that don’t jam up the equipment tend to be caught within the neatly bound bundles of cardboard, bringing down their value for reuse.

Proper recycling can be a challenge, given the vast range of materials that comprise modern product packaging. But just keeping those single-use plastic bags out the blue carts is a major step in the right direction.

For more information on refuse and recycling collection in Oak Park, visit www.oak-park.us/recycling.