Plastic bags: What to do with them?

  • Published
  • By Ted Theopolos
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FROCE BASE, Ohio --  Plastic bags: what do you do with them after you collect so many? You may use them to line small trash cans in the house; others use them for lunch bags or to collect dog droppings during walks, chances are though you still have more than you can use.

About 89 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are used each year in the U.S. according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC). The council also stated good news that in 2007, more than 830 million pounds were recycled, which is a 27 percent increase from 2005.

Now the Wright-Patterson Recycling Center is going help those in need to get rid of plastic bags. Three new plastic bag recycling machines have been purchased, and two are located at the entrance of the Commissary and exit of the Base Exchange. Options for the location for the third machine are being discussed.

"These new plastic bag compactors are solar powered," said Pollution Prevention Manager Bill Meinerding. "The machines don't need to be in direct sun light to work. They can work inside a building."

The plastic bags will be baled and sold to a plastic recycler, according to Meinerding. "This is another initiative to recycle plastics," he said. "The base recycled more than 40 tons of plastic last year. That includes plastics coded one through seven."

Plastics are cauterized by plastic resin code, a numbering system one through seven according to the ACC. For example, look closely at a plastic bag you get when you use the commissary. There will be a number, in this case two, inside the triangle of arrows on the product. This tells the recycler that the product was made from High Density Polyethylene.

Products made from the recycled plastic with resin code two include pipe, floor tiles, buckets, flower pots, plastic lumber for outdoor decking, fencing and recycling bins.

Plastic bags have several advantages. It takes less than four percent of the water needed to make a standard paper bag. Plastic bags are also five times less solid waste than paper bags. Plastics made in the U.S. are made primarily from domestic natural gas instead of imported petroleum. Now by recycling, other new products can be made from the energy saved.

"The more the base recycles the more money we receive from the products and reduce our dumping cost," said Meinerding. "But it's just not that, we're keeping plastic out of the local landfill and it's the right thing to do."

"The Recycling Center made over $200,000 in revenue last year," said Meinerding. "That's down from the year before, but if you factor in the disposal cost if discarded, the American tax payers saved approximately $250,000."

The next time you go to the Commissary or Base Exchange, make it a habit to take your unused plastic bags to the recycling machine for disposal. It will help the Recycling Center and help save the environment.

To recycle other plastics with the resin code numbered one through seven, go to the Recycling Center located in building 293 underneath the water tower.