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Wow, great article in the Strib about plastic film recycling in Minnesota! Here's the link, which you may or may not be able to follow if you are not a subscriber.
tldr; Those plastic bags that you drop off at grocery stores really DO get recycled in Minnesota, mostly ending up at Trex, a company that manufactures decking material. But this is actually downcycling (one-time reuse) rather than true recycling which is an endless loop of reuse. It's a pretty durable form of downcycling, but eventually even composite decking gets scrapped. HOWEVER... a plastic film recycling plant will be opening this summer in Rogers, MN, that will be part of a true recycling chain, ending up at a facility in Wisconsin that produces new food-grade plastic film!
tldr; Those plastic bags that you drop off at grocery stores really DO get recycled in Minnesota, mostly ending up at Trex, a company that manufactures decking material. But this is actually downcycling (one-time reuse) rather than true recycling which is an endless loop of reuse. It's a pretty durable form of downcycling, but eventually even composite decking gets scrapped. HOWEVER... a plastic film recycling plant will be opening this summer in Rogers, MN, that will be part of a true recycling chain, ending up at a facility in Wisconsin that produces new food-grade plastic film!
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Date: 2023-06-03 06:28 pm (UTC)I couldn't get at this one, but it sounds like very good news, depending on how polluting the recycling facility is.
P.
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Date: 2023-06-04 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-06-04 09:41 pm (UTC)I had a NYT subscription for a while and I developed the most ridiculous reluctance to just sign in and get on with it. I resented the necessity. One problem was that my phone and their website didn't always see eye to eye about whether I was allowed to paste my username and password in from the password manager. Sometimes it was fine, sometimes it wasn't.
P.
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Date: 2023-06-04 05:27 pm (UTC)Anyway, I don't think either of these new recycling thingies should make you feel good about single-use plastic.
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Date: 2023-06-09 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-06-09 04:57 pm (UTC)Now that I can afford to buy new things when I want them and keep out of season frozen fruit in my freezer, I am not willing to revert to that lifestyle. So I am grateful for whatever plastics recycling opportunities come my way.