Oxo-biodegradable Bags
Recyclable?
Blue Bins & Chutes
Other Recycling
Recommended
Freecycle / Give Away
If the bags don't have holes and are suitable for reuse… well reuse them or give them away!
Always try to reuse bags! A bag used twice is not single-use plastic.
Share Our Plastic
Online Freecycle Groups
Olio
GoodHood
Alternative
Trash
Regardless of what is printed on the bag, this material cannot be recycled. NEA prohibits them from being placed in blue bins.
Note that these bags are not suitable for long term storage because they disintegrate.
General Waste
Info & Insights
Sigh. These bags are so deceiving.
Businesses offer them because they've been told they are the greener option when in fact they are worse than regular plastic because they cannot be recycled.
And people throw them in recycling bins all the time - again trying to do the right thing. But this just decreases the quality of plastic recycling which contributes to lower plastic recycling rates.
Understand that most businesses don't use these because they are greenwashing: they are simply uneducated.
“Oxo-degradable plastics are being produced and sold in many countries, with society being led to believe that they completely biodegrade in the environment within relatively short timescales. Yet compelling evidence suggests that oxo-degradable plastics take longer than claimed to degrade and that they fragment into small pieces which contribute to microplastics pollution. Over 150 organisations worldwide endorse this statement that proposes banning oxo-degradable plastic packaging worldwide.” source | more | more