[10068]

Hello;

I have been informed by a reliable source within the industry that those bins marked "Recycle Plastic Bags here!" don't get recycled at all. It's cheaper for the chain (Safeway and Albertson's are the examples I was given) to simply throw them away, so that's what they do.

Obviously this is misleading and unethical, but is it illegal? Is there any recourse we can take or not so much.

 

[mybeat]

There were a Pen and Teller show on recycling which said that it's only usefull to recycle aluminum cans and everything else is a vaste of energy/money/human resources.

Here where I live at some places they set up different trash cans and at the end they just dump everything to a single waste dump.
To me the whole recycling thing is a scam.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

You make Al Gore cry.

 

[tpc41]

when i worked in a grocery store, we always threw those "recycled" plastic bags right into the trash compactor...

 

[synaesthetic]

If the price per barrel of crude keeps going up, recycling plastic will look a lot more attractive...

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif If the price per barrel of crude keeps going up, recycling plastic will look a lot more attractive...

Because it costs more than throwing it away ?

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rock&Roll Ninja /img/forum/go_quote.gif You make Al Gore cry.

After he's done crying, he says "GTFO!!!" and fires his mouth-lazer for the destruction.

 

[nickdawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif If the price per barrel of crude keeps going up, recycling plastic will look a lot more attractive...

Would be nice if we could use that crap to run our cars and for energy.

The bottle-water drinkers and shopaholics could power our country for years.

 

[nsx_23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rock&Roll Ninja /img/forum/go_quote.gif You make Al Gore cry.

Whilst he flys around in a private jet and lives in a supposedly "green" house whilst consuming more electricity than 10 houeholds in a year?

 

[MCC]

I work at a local supermarket on occasion. Our main competitor placed "bag recycling" cans in their stores and our customers complained that we didn't have the same program. We know that the competitor is simply throwing the bags away, since no one in the state actually accepts them for recycling. This is the underlying problem- the bags have nowhere to go. Thus, we too are forced to throw the bags away despite the fact that our managers want to recycle them.

We're still searching for a place to take the bags to no avail.

 

[Jaska]

Why do other countries not do as is done in Finland? You know, take a shopping basket with you to the store and a couple of reusable canvas bags to put groceries in? If you want plastic bags here, you have to buy them at the checkout lane, and they are not exactly hot sellers.

 

[MCC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaska /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do other countries not do as is done in Finland? You know, take a shopping basket with you to the store and a couple of reusable canvas bags to put groceries in? If you want plastic bags here, you have to buy them at the checkout lane, and they are not exactly hot sellers.

Reusable bags are becoming popular here in Iowa, with ~30% of our customers bringing them in or reusing old plastic/paper bags. I'd guess that number to have been <5% last year. We have reusable bags on display as you enter the store and we placed a sign in the window reminding customers to bring them.

Edit: We don't charge a fee for using plastic, but we do take $.05 off the order for each bag the customer brings in.

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCC /img/forum/go_quote.gif Reusable bags are becoming popular here in Iowa, with ~30% of our customers bringing them in or reusing old plastic/paper bags. I'd guess that number to have been <5% last year. We have reusable bags on display as you enter the store and we placed a sign in the window reminding customers to bring them.

Wow, I never would have figured. I just spent most of my summer in the States (the South and East, mostly) and didn't see any hint of any such thing.

Iowa rocks! My dog is even from there

 

[subfocus]

No big deal to bring your own re-usable bags really.
Can't always be done, thats for sure .... but its amazing how quickly it becomes second nature to grab 'em before you leave to do the supermarket shopping.

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCC /img/forum/go_quote.gif I work at a local supermarket on occasion. Our main competitor placed "bag recycling" cans in their stores and our customers complained that we didn't have the same program. We know that the competitor is simply throwing the bags away, since no one in the state actually accepts them for recycling. This is the underlying problem- the bags have nowhere to go. Thus, we too are forced to throw the bags away despite the fact that our managers want to recycle them. We're still searching for a place to take the bags to no avail.

Okay... see, I have a habit of assuming the worst. Dunno if i'm just a cynical person or just a realist gone too far

Anyways, it's good to know that your company was trying to find a place to take them. I think it's really weird that recycling of bags is advertised if no one takes them. To me it sounds like some major chain's CEO or Marketing Team was like, "People pay more and are sales are better if they know we recycle stuff", so they put out bins marked Plastic Bag Recycling. Now if they planned to actually recycle them who knows. Sometimes the Marketing Team doesn't really think things through.....