Blue bags can be trouble

Problems

The blue plastic bags that residents have been trained to use for recyclables are actually a contaminant in the sorting process and a headache for workers at Recycle Source, the recycling sorting facility the city of Pittsburgh uses. They are prone to getting wrapped around the sorting machinery, breaking it and interrupting the process. Until recently, a bag breaker mechanically tore open the plastic encasements to empty the contents. For reasons he would not specify, Recycle Source plant manager John Hudock said that workers now manually do it.

Solutions

One solution would be for residents to use bins instead of bags. A $3.2 million budget request by the city’s Bureau of Environmental Services to distribute “smart” bins, with a barcoding system for drivers, was denied. However, the Pennsylvania Resources Council received funding to provide up to 5,000 bins to city residents in 2018. Grant Ervin, the city’s chief resiliency officer, said another budget request for bins will be made this year. He also added, “residents are not precluded from getting bins themselves.” Bins can also be purchased at common big-box stores.

Interesting fact

If you recycle your plastic bags at the dropoff points at several local stores, most likely they’re being sold to the Virginiabased company Trex Lumber to be used to make outdoor decks, according to Robert Bylone, executive director of the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center. Other composite decking manufacturers in Pennsylvania also purchase plastic bags.