Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Lt. Gov. Cawley, Keep PA Beautiful, Partners Kick Off Plastic Bag Recycling Initiative

Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley joined Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, partnering organizations and students from The Nativity School of Harrisburg to launch the “A Bag’s Life” on America Recycles Day, November 15.
The program partners with more than 1400 supermarket and other retail locations who will serve as collection points throughout Pennsylvania for plastic bag and other film collection.
Click Here to watch a video of the event.
According to Shannon Reiter, KPB Executive Director, “A Bag’s Life is a fun and easy way of educating consumers how important it is to recycle plastic bags and serves as a reminder of just how easy it is!”
KPB partners in A Bag’s Life Program include the departments of Conservation and Natural Resources, Environmental Protection and Transportation, PA Food Merchants Association, PA Recycling Markets Center, PA Waste Industries Association, the Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council, Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania, Keep America Beautiful and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Affiliates and various recycled material processors in Pennsylvania.
“A Bag’s Life" is a united effort by non-profit, business, community and government organizations around the common goal of promoting the three R’s as they relate to bags — reduce recycle and reuse.
With the inception of “A Bag’s Life,” consumers can divert many other plastics into plastic bag recycling bins that are currently found at larger retailers and most chain grocery stores. These bins will be more readily available as large mall retailers come on board with this progressive, easy to participate in program.
In addition to standard plastic retailer bags, “The Bag Family” of recyclable plastic includes: Newspaper bags – used to keep your daily news dry, Dry Cleaning bags, Bread bags (please shake out those crumbs first), Veggie bags – the ones you use for your fresh vegetables at the grocery store, Product Wraps – this includes toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, diaper wrap and more, Furniture Wrap – Imagine reusing that big bulk of plastic that kept your new couch clean until it arrived in your living room.
Also included are: Electronic Wrap – Those plastic bags that your new flat screen came in can be put in the plastic bag bin; even the bubble wrap (It’s ok to let the kids stomp the bubbles first!), Plastic Retail bags – Just be sure you pull off any hard plastic and string handles first, Food Storage bags – If they are clean and dry put them in the bin, Cereal Box Liners – “A Bag’s Life” notes that unless it tears like paper, recycle it as long as it is clean, Tyvek and other Plastic Shipping Envelopes – Remove the labels please, Ice Bags – Pull off any metal closures, dry them and recycle, Bags labeled #2 or #4 recyclable – Take them back to the store when they are clean and dry to be recycled!
You cannot recycle food or cling wrap, prepackaged food bags including frozen food bags or prewashed salad bags, or wraps with a large amount of glue.
Once these bags are collected, their valuable material is transformed into dozens of useful new products, including low-maintenance fencing, decking as well as other construction materials. They are also used to make more bags. The list grows daily of the manufacturers reusing plastic for their products. PROP encourages consumers to choose recycled material products whenever possible.
For more information, visit the A Bags Life website.

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