Recycle your plastic bags!

As you know, we like to keep our Village Green neat and tidy and we especially don't like to see plastic shopping bags stuck in trees and shrubs or floating in ponds and rivers.

Some members of Akron's Freecycle Cafe answered my call out for collection bin sightings in the Akron area. A member of the Yahoo group wanted to know if it was OK to put recyclables in bags other than blue into the new Akron recycle bins.

Here's what I posted:

In answer to your plastic bag question, I found the following on the City of Akron's official web site in a letter from the Mayor:

"How Does the New Trash/Recycle Service Work?*

On your regular collection day, place your household trash (all bagged) in your new cart and place your recycle materials (bagged in blue or clear bags) in your new, blue cart. These carts must be placed at the curb by no later than 4:30 a.m. on your normal collection day.

All bagged trash must be placed inside of the trash cart; if not, it will not be collected."

One would think that any plastic shopping bag would work fine, but the above indicates not. Also note that Akron's recycling program does not include plastic bags. The only plastics they will take are #1 and #2.

I am waging a personal war against plastic shopping bags that litter our landscapes and choke sea creatures. (Sea turtles think they the bags are jelly fish, try to eat them and then die.) Plastic shopping bags are a petroleum product and do not break down in to harmless substances. They are very toxic.

I take my own personal cloth bags with me whenever I go grocery shopping and say no to bags. This is the only way to shop at Acme, as they don't give out blue bags and refuse to provide a recycling box for used plastic bags. I have heard that some Giant Eagle and Walmart stores
provide plastic bag recycling containers. If anyone knows which stores do that, I would love to hear from you.

And here are the responses:

"Giant Eagle on Home/ Howe Ave ( Cuyahoga Falls ) has a HUGE recycle bin in front of their store for those pesky bags! The wally world in Stow used to have one but I haven't been over that way in a while."

"The Giant Eagle on Howe Ave...formerly Tops....has a HUGE receptacle for recycling plastic grocery bags out front. I use the canvas bag I got years ago when I lived on the west coast from Safeway still. It is so unfortunate that mainstream society feels the need to use plastic bags. From a business standpoint, it's cheaper and to make environmentalist "happy" they don't take any trees (the whole reason they were introduced). Shoppers like them because they have handles and are easier to carry. I shop frequently at West Point Market...they still use paper, and lovely LARGE bags they are with HANDLES."

So NE Akronites and folks in the Falls, you've got a collection point for your plastic bags. Still looking for a recycle bin closer to Kenmore and/or West Akron.

The Akron Freecycle Cafe is a Yahoo group that shares resource tips and comments about the main group, Akron Freecycle. Freecyclers are folks who use email to recycle items to keep them out of landfills. People recycle clothing, computer parts, books, electronics, furniture, baby formula coupons and so on. Follow the links to learn more about each group. Freecycle may be in your area. Check the global organization here.

UPDATE:

This just in via The Akron Freecycle Cafe: Giant Eagle on Waterloo Rd. recycles plastic bags.