Good news for people who worry about plastic use

[dreamshark]

 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!  

Comments

[pameladean]

It is sometimes possible to get past the Strib's paywall by opening a private window and pasting the url of the story into it, but this is variable. Sometimes it's a race between getting the actual story and just getting the first paragraph and then the subscription and login box.

I couldn't get at this one, but it sounds like very good news, depending on how polluting the recycling facility is.

P.

[quadong]

I bet that even if they convert old plastic film into new plastic film, it's a lossy process where the number of pounds of useful film out is much less than the number that they truck in. This is in contrast to aluminum recycling, which isn't lossy at all. (Well, I'm sure it's not perfect, but this is the claim.)

Anyway, I don't think either of these new recycling thingies should make you feel good about single-use plastic.

[davidwilford]

We did install Trex for the front and side decks of our soon-to-be home in Arizona, it ought to last 30+ years. Our contractor recommended it, given the climate there. We do use cloth bags when getting groceries.