Don’t Have Plastic Bag Regret: Recycle Your Sandwich Bags!

Practically every school day growing up, I’d sit down to the cafeteria table to eat my lunch and I’d pull out a PB&J that my mother had stuffed into a Ziploc^® bag. This ritual lasted for years until I was too cool to bring a PB&J to school. I then upgraded to much fancier sandwiches wedged into plastic bags; turkey and swiss, jelly and cream cheese, and the like. Oh, the days before mommy bloggers, Pinterest boards filled with healthy lunch ideas, Michael Pollan, (and sites like Eco-Chick…)!

A fact I recently learned sparked this childhood reflection. Ziploc bags, when clean and dry, are recyclable at more than 18,000 retail locations – including large retailers such as Target and Walmart.

Now my only lunch regret from my school days is that I never recycled the thousands of plastic bags I used for my snacks and sandwiches—they all went off to the landfill (doh!).

In fact, Ziploc brand bags can be recycled in the same bins as plastic shopping bags and certain locations—like recycling centers and retail stores—have set up drop-offs for plastic bag recycling. If only my mother and I had known way back when. If you are looking for responsible ways to take care if your garbage, see here this post about skip bin hire Canberra.

Here’s a handy list of items that can be dropped off at a recycling location near you (so you don’t have plastic bag regrets):

• Ziploc^® brand bags (clean and dry)
• Plastic grocery bags
• Newspaper bags
• Dry-cleaning bags
• Bread bags and produce bags
• Toilet paper, napkin and paper-towel wraps
• Plastic shipping envelopes
• All clean bags labeled #2 or #4

Not sure about exactly where those recycling locations are near you? You can search Earth911’s directory simply by inputting your to-be-recycled item, and your zip code, and you’ll get a list of places you can recycle anything.

This post on raising awareness that Ziploc® brand bags are recyclable is sponsored by Ziploc®.