Wednesday, December 6, 2023

NONE of the plastic bags got corporate recycled at drop-off spots in Los Angeles!! USPIRG investigation results

 I always drop off our plastic bags and other polyethylene plastic of same kind - to the corporate drop off sites in Minnesota!! I have always wondered if they even get recycled!! I strongly suspect - in fact I have no reason to believe - that Minnesota is any different. I think there are a few businesses [TheTrexCo] here that use plastic bags though? U.S.PIRG study results:

To find out, the investigators put small electronic tracking devices in plastic Amazon bubblewrap envelopes and air pillows (which were labeled for store drop-off). They then dropped them in different plastic recycling drop bins across Los Angeles.

So where did the recycled packaging end up?

  • Packaging dropped off at a Target in downtown L.A. ended up in a Sylmar landfill north of the city.
  • Packaging dropped off at a Sprouts in Culver City, California, ended up in a plastics recycling center in Mexico, which has come under fire by Mexican environmental groups for supposed "greenwashing."
  • Packaging dropped off at a Kohls in Northridge, California, ended up in the Antelope Valley landfill north of L.A.
  • Packaging dropped off at a Winco in Norco, California, ended up in the Trex Valley Warehouse in Nevada, which is a self-described recycling center.
  • Packaging dropped off at a Target in La Verne, California, ended up in a shipping container in the Port of Los Angeles.
  • And so on.

Of the 10 plastic items dropped off in recycling bins with an electronic tracker, four ended up in landfills, two ended up in a waste transfer center (meaning they're likely headed to a landfill), two went to out-of-state or out-of-country recycling centers, and two were last located at the Port of Los Angeles, headed to who knows where. None of them ended up in California recycling centers.

 https://nextrex.com/view/educate#faq1

 https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/where-do-plastic-bags-from-take-back-centers-go/

So UNFI does recycle their plastic bags via Cub and Kowalskis!! Awesome.

But the Target? I don't trust it to recycle! I emailed a Minnesota recycling association to see what answer they give.

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