Of all the plastic that’s manufactured, only about 9 percent is recycled, according to the United Nations.
In March 175 countries across the world pledged to create a legally-binding instrument by 2024 to end plastic pollution. Much of what’s thrown away is plastic numbers two and four, which includes plastic bags. These types of plastics are not accepted by most city or county recycling programs, though they can be recycled, and most grocery stores collect it in bins outside their stores.
Stephanie Hicks works for Trex, which says on its website that it’s among the biggest companies in North America that recycles polyethylene plastic film. Hicks said she has seen more companies like theirs launch in the past few years, but more are needed. “Even if everybody started recycling all plastic bags and film tomorrow, there aren’t enough recycling outlets. In order to really move the needle and get things recycled, everybody has to do it.”
For 25 years Trex has been partnering with grocery stores to collect used plastic bags. There are about 2500 church groups, scout troops, and other organizations across the country that participate in what’s called the “Trex challenge”— to collect 500 pounds of plastic film over six months, including a group in Floyd.
“What we really quickly realized is we were overwhelmed with plastic waste, the county is overwhelmed, I guess the globe is,” said Jackie Crenshaw, President of SustainFloyd. “There are huge deposits of plastic in the oceans.”
SustainFloyd is collecting plastic in a drop off bin at the farmers’ market in Floyd, where the group has also recently launched a station on Saturdays to refill bottles with cleaning and beauty products.
Outside Floyd, most towns and cities across Virginia have bins outside grocery stores where you can recycle plastic, including sandwich bags, plastic film that surrounds bulk purchases of paper towels, bubble wrap, and newspaper sleeves. “And recently we’ve said yes to mulch bags,” said Hicks. “please try to shake out the remnants, but mulch bags are ok.”
All the plastic Trex collects in Virginia is shipped to their manufacturing plant in Winchester, where the company turns it into composite boards, used to build decks.
If SustainFloyd is successful, they will receive a plastic bench, produced by Trex from recycled products, to use at their farmers market.
A list of all the types of plastic Trex recycles can be found here.
To find drop-off locatiosn that accepts plastics for recycling, go here.
