asheville, Recycle Your Plastic Bags

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Recycle Your Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are recycled into many different products. Most plastic bags are recycled into composite lumber, but they can also be reprocessed into small pellets or post consumer resin, which can become feed stock for a variety of products such as new bags, pallets, containers, crates, and pipe.

You Can Help

Return clean, dry, empty plastic bags to recycling drop off centers or retailers that provide designated plastic bag recycling bins. Don't forget to remove your receipt and to note what the drop off location accepts. In Buncombe County there are several stores that accept plastic bags for recycling:

Bi-Lo
Food Lion
Harris Teeter
Ingles

Plastic bags that are typically recycled into recycled plastic products include:

Grocery bags
Retail bags (hard plastic and string handles removed)
Paper towel and toilet paper plastic wrap
Plastic newspaper bag
Plastic dry cleaning bags
All clean, clear bags labeled with a #2 or #4

Do NOT Include the Following

The following are considered contaminants and could jeopardize recycling programs:

NO food or cling wrap
NO prepackaged food bags including frozen food bags (e.g., prewashed salad bags)
NO film that has been painted or has excessive glue
NO other bags or films
NO bio-based or compostable plastic bags

For more information, visit www.plasticbagrecycling.org.

(Images provided by Buncombe County.)