Recycling Plastic Bags and
Other Plastic Film Products
Products Made from Recycled
Plastic Bags and Plastic Film
One of the more abundant products made from plastic film is the common grocery store bag, but there are many more products in the category. These include newspaper bags, the packaging for most toilet paper and paper towels, bags for bread, dry cleaning bags, and the shrink-wrap used in packaging.

Reason to Recycle
Plastic bags photodegrade, meaning they slowly break down into smaller and smaller bits that can contaminate soils and waterways. In Texas, we use 600 bags per second. Unfortunately, we only recycle about 1% of them. The other 99% usually end up in a landfill or along streams, rivers, and beaches.

Easy to Recycle
Plastic film is one of the easiest items to recycle and is accepted at most grocery stores. Look for plastic film collection bins near the front entrance or checkout areas. (Due to its light weight and tendency to jam recycling equipment, most curbside programs do not accept plastic film for recycling.)