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- Approximately 6 billion single use plastic bags are used in LA County each year. As a result, 45,000 tons of single use plastic bags are disposed of by residents countywide each year.
- Most of the 88 cities in the County of Los Angeles do not collect plastic bags at curbside for recycling.
- Of curbside collected bags, approximately 90% of the collected and taken to recycling facilities are not recycled, but instead taken to landfills for the following reasons:
- Single use plastic carryout bags have a high contamination rate due to reuse as a household trash bin liner or by coming into contact with other contaminants (e.g., pet waste) when placed in the collection bin. As the contamination rate increases, the quality of the plastic resin is reduced.
- Single use plastic carryout bags interfere with the machinery and have a tendency to jam the screens used to separate materials.
- It is not cost efficient to recycle single use plastic carryout bags due to lack of suitable markets. The domestic market for single use plastic carryout bags is extremely limited, especially in California.
- The voluntary Single Use Bag Reduction and Recycling Program focuses on at-store recycling, keeping bags free of intermingling and contamination, thereby increasing the value of the commodity and making it more likely the bags will be recycled.*
Plastic bag recycling bins can be ordered from manufacturers. Plastic bag recycling signage, poster graphics and outreach materials are downloadable and printer-ready from the following: this site
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Sponsored by the County of Los Angeles