Recycling hits bump in road with plastic bags

The city of Phoenix doesn't want anyone putting plastic grocery bags in their blue recycling barrels.

It's not that the city is against recycling, it's just that the bags get caught in the machinery.

Instead of the blue recycling barrels, residents should look for big green signs in their grocery stores.

The city has worked together with the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance to create the Bag Central Station program, which is designed to raise awareness on how to correctly recycle.

Grocery stores will recycle the plastic bags people bring in, since the bags can't be recycled by the city recycling system.

Carl Smith, solid waste administrator for the city of Phoenix's Public Works Department, said Phoenix has distributed about 100,000 reusable bags in hopes that people will stop using plastic bags when shopping and putting them in the recycling.

The reusable cotton bags are durable enough to be washed and used again.

"Our main focus is to keep bags out of the recycling barrel," Smith said. "The best way to recycle them is to take them back to the grocery store."

And while putting the plastic bags in recycling is out, even worse are when the bags are just left on the streets.

"In addition to playing havoc with our recycling program, they're also a littering issue," Smith said. "I saw a dust devil the other day and it had plastic bags flying around like kites."

Councilman Greg Stanton said the city hopes to phase the plastic bags out over time because of environmental concerns.

"We as a society need to transition away from plastic bags," Stanton said, adding that the Bag Central Station program was instituted in place of heavy restrictions and bans on plastic bags being used elsewhere.

San Francisco banned the bags last year and Los Angeles recently voted to ban the bags by 2010.

According to its government Web site, China banned plastic bags this summer.

It's possible that Phoenix follows their lead.

If a report released within the next month on the percentage of plastic bags being recycled shows that numbers haven't increased, the city could pursue harsher regulations.

"If the number is not any higher, I'm still open-minded and willing to consider more stringent regulations," Stanton said.

Ben Sandoval is interning this summer at the AFN. He is a junior at Arizona State University.