Leonardtown, MD – St. Mary’s County has been told plastic bags and plastic film/wrap can no longer be recycled with other single stream recyclables currently collected at the six Convenience Centers. Plastic bags (i.e., sandwich, grocery, tall kitchen, and heavy duty bags) as well as plastic film/wrap create operational problems, safety concerns, and hazards to the processor’s equipment specifically the conveyor belts used in sorting single stream recyclables as seen on this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIYLnHQ9peM
Loads with plastic bags/plastic film will be considered “contaminated” and rejected by the Prince Georges County Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), causing additional processing fees to be assessed to the county and zero credit toward St. Mary’s recycling efforts. Until technology can be developed to separate plastic bags and plastic film/wrap from the other recyclables, these items are banned from our convenience center single stream collection.
Citizens who use plastic bags at home to collect recyclables are no longer permitted to throw the entire bag into the recycling container. Residents must dump the recyclables out of the bag and dispose of the bag into a collection container located near the recycling containers at the Convenience Centers. Attendants are available on site to assist customers. On this Earth Day citizens are reminded that plastic bags can be recycled at other local vendors (such as grocery, chain, department stores) or to consider reusing them as demonstrated at http://www.wikihow.com/Recycle-Old-Plastic-Bags.
St. Mary’s County is currently researching user-friendly alternatives for the separate collection of plastic bags, evaluating TREX as a recycling possibility, and exploring the feasibility of using other recycling processors. We appreciate those citizens who realize the environmental and cost benefits of recycling and trust you will continue your recycling efforts.