In Summit and Wasatch counties, residents have several convenient options for recycling soft plastics—the stretchy, scrunchable materials often used for bags and packaging. These include grocery and produce bags, bread and frozen food bags, zip-locks, toilet paper and dry-cleaning bags, bubble wrap, mailers, and more. While all of these items are recyclable, they should not be placed in your curbside recycling bin. Instead, they require special handling.

One option is to drop your soft plastics at Walmart or Smith’s, both of which participate in nationwide Store Drop-off Recycling programs. Look for the green bins near the store entrances. Simply collect your clean and dry soft plastics, place them into a single plastic bag, tie it shut, and deposit it in the bin. Each bin lists acceptable items on the side. The collected plastics are baled by Walmart and Smith’s and sent off to be repurposed. Walmart partners with various shippers to transport the waste to recycling plants, where it’s processed and made into new products like composite lumber and plastic bags. Smith’s specifically collaborates with Trex, the country’s largest producer of wood-alternative decking made from recycled plastics. See plasticfilmrecycling.org for more information.

A third option for Summit County residents is Recycle Utah in Park City. Bring your soft plastics to the “Soft Plastics” bin located inside the plastics tent. The collected material is baled and sent to a materials recovery facility in Salt Lake City, then transported to a plant in Morgan, Utah, where it’s converted into fuel used in cement production.

All three options help divert soft plastics from our landfills and give them a second life in useful products. However, it’s essential to recycle correctly. Any contamination—like food residue or unaccepted items—can cause an entire load to be rejected and sent to the landfill instead. So make sure your items are clean, dry, and approved for recycling. Every small effort adds up to a big impact when it comes to protecting our environment.

By Bev Harrison