Phoenix officials pushing residents to recycle plastic bags differently

PHOENIX — You might have good intentions when you go to put your plastic bags in a recycling bin, but it might actually do more harm than good.

According to Lucas Mariacher with the City of Phoenix, the city spends about $1 million per year sorting through trash that should not have been put in recycling bins — including plastic bags.

Why? Plastic bags routinely jam the machines at the city’s recycling plant, Mariacher said. Other soft plastic items, such as shrink wrap or bubble wrap, also cause those issues.

“Essentially it’s a steel axle that spins really fast with rubber stars on there,” he said. “As you can imagine, when plastic bags hit that machine, they get wrapped around there.”

Mariacher said the amount of plastic that gets caught in the machine is high: Employees are forced to halt operations up to twice a day to cut those items loose.

But the city has set up a solution: Mariacher said there are bins not only at stores in Phoenix, but stores all across the Valley where residents can recycle those pesky bags. A list of locations can be found online.

KTAR News’ Griselda Zetino contributed to this report. 

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