Vancouver Pilot Program Moves 'Beyond Bags'Vancouver Pilot Program Moves 'Beyond Bags'

The Columbian

Don't throw away that plastic wrapper that encases your rolls of toilet paper — it has a future as Trex composite lumber.

It doesn't go in your blue recycling cart, though, because plastic wrappers clog up the machines at the regional recycling plant.

Now, there's another option.

Starting Saturday, all 12 Safeway stores in Clark County will begin accepting clean, dry plastic polyethylene wrappers (also called "film") and bags as part of a pilot program called "Beyond Bags — Recycling Plastic Wrap and Film." In addition to packaging film, polyethylene plastic is used to make disposable grocery bags, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, plastic envelopes and newspaper bags.

The "Beyond Bags" program is a partnership between the city of Vancouver, Waste Connections, Clark County and its cities, Safeway, Trex and the Wrap Recycling Action Program, which is headed by the American Chemistry Council's Flexible Film Recycling Group.

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