Red Bank NJ recycling program will keep plastic bags out of landfill

RED BANK - Tired of throwing those plastic bags in the garbage to sit in a landfill forever? Red Bank is joining a growing list of municipalities that accept plastic film recycling.

Starting Nov. 3, the borough will begin collecting plastic film in special, separate containers.

This program is in partnership with SC Johnson, the parent company of brands like Ziploc, Windex and Off. SC Johnson has introduced similar programs in Bradley Beach, Matawan and Loch Arbour.

Plastic film, or the soft plastics found in grocery bags, sandwich bags and bubble wrap, traditionally could not be recycled.

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Residents are usually discouraged from placing plastic bags into their curbside recycling bins. In Monmouth County and Red Bank bulletins, the declaration is written in bold letters.

"It's extremely harmful to a traditional recycling machine," councilwoman and former Environmental Commission chair Kate Triggiano said. "It actually gums up a traditional recycling machine. They’re not made for that."

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What can be recycled varies by municipalities. A spokesperson for SC Johnson explained in an email that recycling facilities across the country sort materials differently.

"For most hard plastics, (material recovery facilities) have specialized equipment to sort into separated streams," the company said. "However, for soft plastics like film, most facilities have not been equipped to properly accept and sort the material. Therefore, most film recycling programs use a separate dedicated collection steam."

According to the company, once the materials are collected, they are processed into recycled pellets, which can be used to make new products.

In Red Bank, traditional curbside recycling could only take glass bottles and jars, metal cans, paper, cardboard and plastics with a No. 1 one or No. 2 stamped on them.

With this expansion of what can be recycled, Red Bank residents who sign up for the one-year pilot program, could place a host of soft plastics into a separate recycling bin and place it by the curb with their traditional recycling bin.

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"You can recycle the plastic wrap that goes around your packs of water bottle, your Ziploc bags, as long as they don't have any food residue on them, your dry-cleaning bags, the plastic film that comes in Amazon packages," Triggiano said. "Things of that nature are all plastic film."

She said shrink wrap also is recyclable.

"You know how they wrap ships for the season," Triggiano said. "That's plastic film as well. … That is recyclable."

Triggiano said the borough's department of public utilities will pick up the plastic film recyclables. Red Bank's traditional recycling is picked up by a commercial recycling company.

Triggiano said she has been in talks with SC Johnson about plastic film recycling since February.

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Nancy Blackwood, the current chair of the Environmental Commission, said SC Johnson is helping the borough with promotion. The company is sending out postcards in English and Spanish to residents.

Blackwood said residents would need to sign up through a Google form on the borough's website.

Once residents sign up, they'll get a 5-gallon plastic-film-only recycling container.

According to Triggiano, the borough will host a bucket distribution day from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 16 at Borough Hall. Blackwood said residents can still sign up for the program after the first collection date.

According to Blackwood, plastic film recycling collection will take place on the first recycling day of each month.

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"(It) is easy for them to remember," Blackwood said. "The first week of the month, and (as) they’re putting out their regular recycling, they’ll say ‘Oh you know, let me get my plastic film and put it out as well.’"

Triggiano said, "I’m really proud (that) in Red Bank we’re staying on the forefront. … This program is just a perfect fit for the borough and for our residents. We have very environmentally conscious residents."

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at [email protected].