TEE CEE'S TIPS

Dear Tee Cee, I have been hanging onto a bunch of thin plastic air pockets (the kind that is used for shipping instead of packing peanuts or Styrofoam blocks) because I’m not sure what to do with them. I remember hearing that plastic bags cannot be recycled, which seem to be made of similar material, but there are also recycling symbols all over them. Is there any way to recycle these?

Gail

Dear Gail, You’re right that thin plastic “film,” such as plastic grocery bags, should never go in your curbside recycling bin. In fact, they are the #1 contaminant in the recycling bin because they wind around sorting machinery, and they get dirty from liquids errantly left in containers. Recycling operators like Eco-cycle have to shut down processing operations and cut plastic bags off of the equipment and then send them to the landfill. The “chasing arrows” recycling symbol is unfortunately not a reliable label. It is unregulated and is put all over products that are not recyclable, so please refer to guideline resources like the City of Longmont’s Waste Wizard app or Ecocycle’s A-Z recycling guide app to know where you can or cannot recycle various materials.

While they may not be able to go into your curbside recycling cart, many types of plastic films, including plastic carryout bags, bubble wrap, newspaper bags, and the plastic air pockets you describe, can be recycled at either the Longmont Waste Diversion Center or Eco-cycle’s Center for Hard-to-recycle Materials (CHARM). They must be clean, dry and empty. Plastic films are sent to Trex and made into composite lumber for decking.

Not ALL plastic bags of films are recyclable. Here’s how you can tell:

• Stretch test: Try sticking your thumb through the plastic film. If it stretches, it’s recyclable. Crunchy and crinkly plastics like plastic food pouches do not pass the stretch test and should be landfilled.

• Wavy test: If you tear a piece of plastic film, the edges of the tear should be wavy and not split along a straight line.

Before recycling your plastic air pocket packaging, try searching local online social media groups to see if anyone nearby is collecting them for reuse. Just like cardboard boxes, you can help people who are packing their belongings for a move or shipping products as part of their business save money and lessen their environmental footprint by sharing perfectly reusable packing materials.

— Tee Cee