County No Longer Recycling Plastic Bags
St. Mary’s County has been informed that plastic bags and plastic film can no longer be recycled with the other single-stream recyclables currently collected at the county’s six convenience centers.
Plastic bags such as grocery, tall kitchen, and heavy duty bags create operational problems, safety concerns, and hazards to the processor’s equipment, specifically the conveyor belts used in sorting single-stream recyclables, as seen in this video. Loads with plastic bags and plastic film will be considered “contaminated” and rejected, causing additional fees for the county and zero credit toward its recycling efforts.
Until technology catches up with a solution to address the issue, plastic bags and plastic film will be banned from the convenience center single-stream collection.
Effective immediately, citizens who use plastic bags at home to collect their recyclables should not throw the entire bag into the recycling container. Rather, dump the recyclables out of the bag and dispose of the bag into a collection container located near the recycling containers at the convenience centers. Attendants will be available on-site for any assistance you may need. Please recycle plastic bags at other local vendors — grocery, chain, department stores — or consider reusing them.
St. Mary’s County is researching user-friendly alternatives for the separate collection of plastic bags, evaluating TREX as a recycling possibility, and exploring the feasibility of using other recycling processors. The county appreciates those citizens who realize the environmental and cost benefits of recycling and trust recycling efforts will continue.
The good news from county officials is that the St. Mary’s recycling rate for 2014 is 44.20 percent (well above the state- mandated 20 percent) and the county’s overall waste diversion rate is just over 50 percent. St. Mary’s currently ranks No. 3 of the comparable counties in Maryland with populations of 150,000 or less.
Find information on the county’s convenience centers here.
