County begins ‘Bag Your Bags’ campaign

Published 1:07 pm Friday, October 21, 2011

King County’s second annual “Bag your Bags – Bring ’em Back” campaign has begun to bring together recycling, reuse and reduction in peoples’ kitchens and at grocery stores.

Program officials say it’s now easier than ever to recycle by taking plastic bags to participating grocery stores, including Fred Meyer, QFC and Top Food & Drug.

Nearly 50,000 tons of recyclable plastic bags and plastic wrap ended up in King County’s Cedar Hills Landfill last year, officials say, and the recycling program is designed to put bags where they belong.

More kinds of plastic bags than ever before are now accepted by store collection programs. Types of plastic bags and wrap people can bring in for recycling include: grocery bags; bread bags; produce bags; wrap for products such as paper towels and toilet paper; bubble wrap; dry cleaning bags; newspaper bags and shrink wrap.

The campaign is called “Bag your Bags” because that’s the way you need to do it. Loose bags get stuck in recycling machinery or cause litter problems, so people are asked to stuff bags in a single bag, knot it up and take it in to the stores.

A strong demand exists for recycled plastic bags to make a wide variety of products.