Material Guide: Thin film plastics

There are three kinds of mailers, all of which we accept, but which are each treated differently. Plastic mailers are entirely made from plastic, primarily from Amazon. Then there are paperboard or paper mailers that are entirely made from paper or paperboard which are recyclable with mixed paper with the exception of a thin strip of plastic at the top of the paperboard ones that should be removed. The third kind is a combination of paper and plastic, typically paper glued to bubble wrap we can call bubbly mailers.

Plastic mailers can be placed in the stretchy tub, however, please make sure they are empty, and please make an attempt to remove the labels. The labels are easiest to remove when they’re on a flat surface and you peel from the corner. An alternative is to cut out the portion of the mailer with the label and discard. Bubbly mailers can be placed in the reuse tub. Please avoid using the bubbly mailers as they are extra hard to recycle, and if you know of anyone who would reuse them, please get in contact with us.

There are three kinds of bubble wrap. The little tiny bubble wrap, the bigger bubble wrap, and air mailers. We refer to all three kinds as bubble wrap. We are considering ways to reuse little tiny bubble wrap and the bigger bubble wrap, but do not anticipate being able to reuse air mailers. Please pop the air mailers before including in stretchy plastic. Please do not use shoes or pop them on a dirty floor or the ground as that can contaminate the plastic. Scissors, knives, or fingernails are a cleaner way of popping them.

Plastic bags with nets can include potato bags and clementine bags. The net part of these plastic bags cannot be accepted for recycling, however, we will accept them for reuse. When sorting your materials, please put plastic bags with nets into the reuse tub. Alternatively, the non-net part of the plastic bag can be cut off with scissors and put in with stretchy plastic and the net part can be discarded.

It is now acceptable to include zippers on both stretchy and crinkly plastic. We previously requested the removal of all zippers, however, the guidance on this has evolved and the zippers can now stay. If you ever cut zippers off for any reason, we recommend cutting the zipper so it doesn’t form a loop that could get around an animal or sea creature’s neck and strangle them or get them tangled. Cut zippers should be discarded.

Please watch out for materials that are a combination of paper and plastic. This is laminated paper, and is not recyclable as crinkly or stretchy plastic. Fortunately, this material can actually be recycled as laminated paper as long as the material is clean and dry. An example of this is the Que Pasa tortilla chip bags. Because of the complexity in communicating what it is, we are not generally accepting laminated paper, but we will accept the Que Pasa tortilla chip bags when they are clean and dry and other specific items on a case by case basis.

Whenever possible, avoid using saran wrap. It is a nasty material and there are plenty of alternatives to saran wrap and it isn’t necessary in almost any case especially for household use. However, if you do end up with some of it, and it is entirely clean and entirely dry with no crumbs and no oily or other food residue, it can be recycled along with stretchy plastic.

We are exploring whether we will accept a variety of types of blister packs, including empty medicine blister packs, cured meat and fresh pasta blister packs, and rigid plastic that is glued to a paper or boxboard backing. If we do formally accept them in the future, they will likely come in three forms. Medicines blister packs must be empty and have no medicine residue on them. There’s also blister packs such as those from fresh pastas or cured meats. We’ll want to ensure there is no food residue, and for the cured meats blister packs, a small amount of soap and warm water may be required to clean them properly. The rigid plastic that is glued to a paper or boxboard backing must be separated from the paper backing. Until we’ve obtained some certainty about what kinds of blister packs we can accept, and ensure they are coming in empty and clean, we are not generally accepting blister packs at this time. We may accept certain blister packs on a case by case basis as we continue to explore the possibilities.

Please note: We are not accepting all oversized and thick films yet. However, pet food bags are larger and thicker than the thin films we generally accept. We are exploring whether we can continue to accept these. If you do bring in pet food bags, please ensure they are empty, washed out and then fully dried. Then, please fold them flat and keep them separate from other thin films.

Garden product bags such as soil, compost, bark, and other products are even larger and thicker than even pet food bags, and they tend to leave a residue from the product and also can become covered in dirt from being stored and/or used outside in dirty, rainy, or muddy conditions. In order to accept garden product bags, they need to be clean. We are not generally accepting garden product bags unless they are properly cleaned and dry. We recognize this is a challenging task without a pressure sprayer and/or a brush and a way to dry the bags.

Here’s more information about the oversized and thick films.

We are concerned that our current recycling solutions for thin film plastics may not accept the oversized and thick materials. Even if they do, it can be costly for rePurpose to process them compared with the more standard thin films.

The good news about some of the pet food bags and/or garden product bags is that these materials can be relatively easily reused to make other kinds of bags or other products locally. If and when we have someone willing and able to do this, we will more readily accept this material.

To process thin film plastics, rePurpose currently works with Styro Recycle in Kent, WA for the stretchy plastic, and TerraCycle for the crunchy plastic. In some limited cases, rePurpose might reuse thin film plastics.