Can you put plastic bags in your recycle bin with the plastic bottles?9 replies

I am having a dispute with my husband about putting plastic bags from the grocery store in our recycle trash can along with cans and bottles. Does anyone know exactly what you can and cannot put in the blue trash can in San Francisco?

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1. Kate M said on January 7, 2009 at 9:17 pm

   most of the stores (grocery) are putting bins in front of their stores to collect the bags that have been used . i dont live in california but have been told all the stores are doing this now . good luck .
2. sharmel said on January 8, 2009 at 8:37 am

   Well, certainly where I live and I believe most places, all plastic stuff is classified differently, with plastic bottles in one category and plastic bags and wrappings is an entirely different category. The production of the two different types (soft plastic or rigid plastic) is quite different, therefore whatever else the two get recycled into will be different too. Hence it’s only logical that they prefer you not to just dump it all in together.
3. Kerri E said on January 10, 2009 at 5:34 pm

   I have curb side recycling in Indiana and I was told that you cannot put plastic grocery bags in the bin. The types of plastic are different and most plants are not equipped for more than a couple types of plastic, for example we can only send plastics with the number 1 or 2 symbol on the bottom of the container. I know here in Indiana you can drop off your old bags from any store at the front of all Wal-Mart stores. If you are still having trouble determining if you can recycle something check out your recycling company’s website and you should be able to find information there.
4. Jacob W said on January 13, 2009 at 9:10 pm

   Depends on how the local government handles recycled plastics. In my area you cannot.

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5. victor l said on January 16, 2009 at 8:38 pm

   where i live we take the plastic bags back to the store to be recycle.
6. madfigs said on January 20, 2009 at 3:43 am

   Check with your waste management people – most cities’ recycling programs do not accept plastic bags, because they just don’t have the equipment to deal with them, but San Fransisco might.
7. Tapestry6 said on January 22, 2009 at 12:17 pm

   Take the plastic bags back to a grocery store for recycling they all have bins there for them. Your blue waste should state on the lid.. no plastic bags.
   Call your garbage company to verify if you don’t believe me.
8. oikos said on January 25, 2009 at 1:41 am

   Plastic bags are LDPE (low-density polyethylene). Check to see whether this is accepted. Many recycling programs accept only HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and PETE. Hope this helps some.
9. SouthParkRocks said on January 27, 2009 at 1:12 pm

   i live in sf too and i can tell u that plastic bags cant be put into the blue or green bin. it belongs in the black bin.
   what u CAN put in the blue bins are just plastic and glass bottles, steel cans, office/newspaper/cardboard/magazine paper, aluminum cans and any plastic tubs with number 1,2 or 5 on it. what u CANT put is food soiled paper ex:pizza boxes or coffee cups, styrofoam, plastic packaging, etc.
   hope this helped and if u need more information then heres the link to sf garbage site