Environmental Tips: Recycling Soft/Film Plastics
It’s easier than we thought! The Mendelsohn family will no longer be collecting your soft, otherwise known as film, plastics to take them to Santa Paula’s curbside recycling program. Santa Paula’s recyclables are now taken to Oxnard’s Del Norte transfer station, which does not recycle the film plastics. The bin in the church kitchen will be removed as of December 1 because every one of us can now simply drop them off on our regular shopping trips! Sprouts, WinCo, Vons, Target and Kohl’s send them on their journey to become outdoor decking, fencing and furniture products manufactured in the USA by the socially and environmentally responsible company, Trex.
Of course, reducing and reusing is always preferred to recycling, so do that first, but when you find yourself ready to recycle, know that there are many film plastics that can find a new life with Trex. These include grocery bags, bread bags, case overwrap (e.g., around toilet paper rolls), dry cleaning bags, newspaper sleeves, ice bags, wood pellet bags, produce bags, air pillows, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, salt bags, and cereal bags. Zip-top bags are acceptable only if they do not have a lining. Plastic shipping envelopes, padded or not, are acceptable but not combos of paper and plastic.
All film plastics should be 99% dry and clean. You should rinse out and dry zip-top bags, but with all others it’s more like a shake out the crumbs level of cleaning.
Trex explained a good way to feel for the HDPE #2 and LDPE #4 types of plastic that are accepted, because they won’t always display the symbol/number, is to stretch the plastic with your finger. If it leaves a finger dimple, then it’s good.
Some items NOT acceptable are biodegradable/compostable bags, frozen entree wrappers and other plastics that are shiny, crinkly, and rip easily/straight, as well as foil-lined chip/snack/energy bar bags/wrappers, and pet food bags. Trex is counting on us to properly sort and only submit these accepted film plastics!
Other types slow down their process, cost more to burn off of the correct plastics, and jeopardize the entire film plastic recycling program of the submitting store! We will install posters (available from here: https://www.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs/) in the church kitchen, and other places, to help you get used to this new way of caring for the Earth! Oxnard is hoping that their transfer station can also become a collection post for the Trex program; and Ventura has started promoting this rapidly growing way to divert our waste from landfills, via social media and in the press: https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2019/11/10/eco-tip-update-effects-grocery-bag-law/2549735001/.
By Mark Mendelsohn and Celia Ortenberg
Please print these to post on your refrigerator!
