King County recycling pilot kept 25 tons of plastic out of landfills

SEATTLE — A five-month recycling pilot shows a promising way to keep plastic wrap and bags from going to the dump.

Between Jan. 18 and May 31, a handful of grocery stores in the Puget Sound region hosted bins for a Seattle-King County pilot that let people drop off film packaging like produce bags or bubble packaging material, which are not accepted in traditional recycling bins.

These materials can entangle equipment, so recycling facilities process them separately.

Stores like Target, Fred Meyer, Safeway and QFC already offer plastic bag and wrap recycling. However, the pilot expanded the service to independent grocers.

According to King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the project was directed by the nonprofit Return-It and was sponsored by Dow, NOVA, General Mills and PAC Worldwide through the American Chemistry Council.

The American Chemistry Council estimates people dropped off around 50,000 pounds of material. About 94% of that was “useful plastic” that could be used again.

“The pilot program confirms that the people of King County want to reduce waste and will recycle more when companies make it convenient,” said Adrian Tan, a manager at King County Solid Waste Division.

British Columbia-based recycler Merlin Plastics converted the film plastic into pellets that, according to the company, can be used to create more film packaging and other products.

Eight grocers participated in the pilot, including Ballard Market, Marketime Foods, and several Grocery Outlet, PCC Community Market and Town & Country Market locations.