“Dispose of Disposables”
– from Glendale Recycling News 1

I used to dispose of household trash in single-use plastic bags and consider it “recycling.” Each bag was used twice, instead of once. This may be reuse, but it is not recycling, because the bags still end up in landfills. That’s not what Glendale’s Public Works Department means by “dispose of disposables” in their recent recycling newsletter.

In 2008, Glendale joined LA County’s campaign against these bags, adding them to the list of items that could be placed in gray recycling bins. LA County had already mandated that local grocery stores provide collection bins and sell reusable tote bags. The bags are for sale in Glendale grocery stores and are being promoted by the county and in Glendale as a way to reduce our use of oil, reduce waste and litter, and extend the life of local landfills.

This Saturday, the Glendale Recycling Center at 540 W. Chevy Chase Drive will give reusable tote bags to everyone who brings in recyclables, as part of its Earth Day activities. The bags are also available now and after the event from the city’s Public Works Department for 50 cents.

I rely on plastic bags for trash collection, and doing things differently will take some effort. Biodegradable bags are available locally, but some reviews say they tend to disintegrate when they get damp. They are expensive: above $5 for 12 kitchen trash bags!

Recycled plastic trash bags, made from those same single-use bags I will no longer use for trash, are made from a combination of 55% post- and pre-consumer recycled plastic (I assume the balance is new plastic). I settled on trying these, which cost just above $5 for 30 kitchen bags.

Yes, the trash cans could just go bagless, but if so I’ll end up spending time and using precious water (on its way to becoming another nonrenewable resource!) to clean them.

I haven’t yet had to buy a reusable bag; I received a free gift of one of Burbank’s new reusable bags (at a Town Hall meeting), and searching through stacks of “stuff” I found seven canvas, plastic, or poly-something bags I could use. I discovered that these eight bags can carry a week’s worth of groceries.