Plastic Bags, film plastic and other soft plastics are some of the most commonly misplaced items in the recyclables cart. Sorting facilities are not typically designed to handle these types of plastics because they can damage machinery. There is also not a strong market for bales of soft plastics from recycling centers. Therefore, they should not be placed in your curbside cart. In some areas there are stores that participate in plastic bag recycling; Safeway and Kohls both participate in a recycling program with Trex decking. They collect soft plastics and Trex uses them in their deck materials. This is the best way to get your soft plastics recycled. Unfortunately, these stores in Windsor are not currently participating in this program, but you can take them to stores in surrounding cities to have this material recycled. You can also check with The Home Depot in Windsor. Please make sure they are clean and dry.
For more information about how sorting facilities work and to watch one in action check out the video link https://www.sonomacorr.com/posts/sorting-recyclables/.
Some examples of soft plastics include:
Plastic grocery store bags
Ziploc bags
Flexible packaging
Plastic film wrap