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Plastic Recycling in Salt Lake City

What types of plastic can be recycled in Salt Lake City?

Salt Lake City’s curbside recycling service accepts plastic with resin codes #1-7. Remember that just because these numbers or the recycling arrows are present on a container does not necessarily mean that it is recyclable. These resin codes are meant only to identify what type of plastic the item is made from. Recyclability is based on many other factors and varies between each city or recycling company.

Review the different types of plastic here.

What happens to plastic after collection?

Once plastic materials and other recyclables are collected from your curbside bin, they are transported and sorted at the Waste Management Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). From there they are sorted and baled and sent to their purchasers for processing.

Whether plastic gets recycled depends on demand, as plastic waste is treated as a commodity with fluctuating value and market conditions. Plastics #1/PET and #2/HDPE are the most commonly and easily recycled nearly everywhere, followed by #4/LDPE and #5/PP.

In SLC, collected items with plastic resin codes #3/PVC, #6/PS, and #7/other are sold to a local cement plant where they are incinerated to heat their kiln. Because of this, I have wavered between which is the lesser of two evils: throwing plastic away and adding to landfill waste, never biodegrading and possibly leaching chemicals into the ground as it breaks into smaller pieces; or tossing them in the recycling bin, where their incineration for energy decreases the use of virgin fossil fuels, but releases nasty chemicals into our already bad air.

Burning plastic for fuel is actually a very common practice throughout the cement industry, which is responsible for 7% of global greenhouse emissions. Burning plastics can release harmful toxins like dioxins into the air, but proponents deny this is an issue. I contacted the cement facility that purchases SLC’s plastic, and was assured that burning plastic is cleaner than coal, and that the cement plant “does have pollution control equipment and very strict permit for air pollution.” Excuse me if I remain skeptical.

The best solution of all is, of course, to do your best avoid plastic as much as possible in the first place, decreasing the need for recycling this complicated material. Click here to discover what plastic items you can start eliminating from your life.

What plastic doesn’t belong in the blue curbside recycling can?

Plastic Film

Plastic films are made from polyethylene (PE), #2 & #4. These are essentially anything that resembles a ziploc or grocery bag.

Examples include:

  • Retail, carryout, produce, newspaper, bread, and dry cleaning bags
  • Zip-top food storage bags
  • Plastic shipping envelopes, bubble wrap and air pillows
  • Product wrap on cases of water/soda bottles, paper towels, napkins, disposable cups, bathroom tissue, diapers, and female sanitary products
  • Furniture and electronic wrap
  • Plastic cereal box liners
  • Any film packaging or bag that has the How2Recycle Label

These materials are the top errant items found in curbside recycling bins by city auditors. Plastic bags or wrap tend to clog up facility sorting machinery, causing it to shut down until it can be removed. The Waste Management facility plans to upgrade the system in the future to accommodate these types of plastics, but for now, keep them out.

However, plastic film can still be recycled at other locations.

Where to recycle plastic bags and other plastic film in Salt Lake City

Many store locations place bins just inside the entrance to collect plastic film for recycling. My only gripe is that the bins are quite small and are often full; it seems like they aren’t emptied much. Perhaps if more people participate, they would place larger collection vessels…

Stores with plastic film recycling drop-off bins include:

Recyclops is a company that specializes in hard-to-recycle items. Founded here in Utah, they currently operate in more than 30 states. Their service makes recycling these items very convenient as they pick up from your home, just as your local curbside waste and recycling does. For $15/month, they collect plastic films from your doorstep, along with textiles, light bulbs, and batteries. Styrofoam and clamshell pickup is available for an additional fee.

Plastic Film Reuse

Besides store drop-offs for grocery bags, you can take them to Plasticity. You can also volunteer at this non-profit to help weave the bags into “plarn”, essentially plastic yarn, which is used to create items like tote bags, baskets, and mats.

Styrofoam (Expanded Polystyrene/ EPS)

The only type of styrofoam that is recycled locally is block styrofoam, which is accepted by Marko Foam. Other than that, packing peanuts, takeout containers, and other styrofoam objects must be disposed of in the landfill.

Full bottles or containers

Don’t throw a full water bottle or a half-empty shampoo bottle in your recycling. These things need to be clean and dry to avoid contaminating other recyclables, namely paper products (wet paper cannot be recycled).

Objects that contain more than plastic

Anything that is composed of additional materials other than plastic, or multiple types of plastic, cannot be recycled.

For example, garden hoses are frequently found in recycling cans, and these cannot be recycled. They are made from multiple types of plastic, in addition to having metal ends. Candy and chip wrappers are another example: they are plastic bags with a foil lining, and these cannot be separated. The same goes for toothpaste tubes. Coffee cups and most other ‘paper’ cups actually have a waxy plastic lining to contain liquids, so these cannot be recycled either.

Hard-to-Recycle Plastic Items

  • Subaru dealerships have a partnership with Terracycle to collect straws, plastic and styrofoam cups/lids, coffee pods, creamer capsules, and candy/snack wrappers for recycling.
  • The Utah Recycling Alliance holds period CHaRMS events for many hard to recycle items. Check their site for dates, locations, and lists of what items they are accepting.
  • Any brand of plastic beauty, skin care, hair care, or hygiene product packaging (bottles, tubes, pumps, etc.) can be dropped off at all Nordstrom and Rack locations, the Fashion Place Sephora, or City Creek L’Occitane to be recycled. Learn more about beauty packaging here.

Do you know of any resources I missed? Let me know!

Got more recycling questions? Check out plastic recycling FAQs, and discover ways to reduce your plastic waste today!

More SLC recycling resources

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