Ditch the Plastic

Choose to ReUse

Did you know?

The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags per year. How many do you use? Depending on your families size and what type of items you buy it's likely to be upwards of 20-25 bags per week. Even if you only use 10 bags per week it really adds up. 10 bags per week x 52 weeks a year = 520 bags per year! If 20,000 households use only 10 bags per week it equates to over 10 million plastic grocery bags [40 tons] per year.

What Can You Do?

Reduce your plastic bag footprint

Use ‘reusable’ shopping bags instead of disposable. Reusable bags are the latest trend with lots of colors, shapes, sizes and designs. Other shoppers will be envious. Nearly every store sells them and a quick online search will produce numerous reusable bag merchants.

Watch a short kid-friendly video about reusable bags: http://youtu.be/gBZdUA8zxJ0.

Learn more about biodegradable vs. Compostable bags and find out where to buy compostable bags locally.

Go bagless.

If you’re only getting a couple items, saying to the cashier, “No thanks, I don’t need a bag.”

When You Can't ReUse, Recycle

Did You Know?

The City of Olympia CANNOT accept plastic grocery bags or any plastic bag for recycling in your curbside recycle cart. When plastic bags are put in the recycle cart they get tangled in the sorting machinery at the recycle center, slowing the process, contaminating other recyclable materials and driving up costs. Pictured left are workers from Waste Connections Inc. clearing recycyling machinery that has been jammed with plastic bags.

What Can You Do?

Find a local retailer that collects plastic bags for recycling

Recycle bins are often located near the front door of grocery stores such as Ralph's Thriftway, Safeway and Top Foods. Collected plastic bags are often used to make more bags, as well as plastic lumber products such as Trex decking.

Take your bags and other clean plastic film to: 

Thurston County Waste & Recovery Center (WARC) located at 2418 Hogum Bay Road, at Hawks Prairie, exit 111. Take back a variety of plastic film, including bubble wrap, clean plastic cling wrap, clean plastic sandwich bags, and plastic newspaper bags. A simple test to see whether a piece of plastic film is recyclable is to see if you can easily poke your finger through the bag. If so, it's good for recycling at the WARC.

Get Involved!

Thurston County Solid Waste has been busy this summer working with the community to discuss issues related to plastic bag use. They are seeking input from residents, businesses, and non-profits on how to reduce their use.

Visit ThurstonSolidWaste.org/plastics for more information and to sign up for emails about the project and planned activities. While there, take the Plastic Bag Survey. Join over 1,700 residents that have completed it and recieve a FREE reusable bag 

Eight community meetings have been scheduled for mid-August to mid-September. Dates and times are listed below. We hope you will join us for these important discussions.