Plastic Bags, Batteries Causing Big Problems For Recycling Centers

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Whether or not an item should go into the curbside recycling bin often varies by company, but a few common incorrectly recycled items are consistent industry-wide: plastic bags and batteries, specifically lithium ion.

Recycling facilities often run most of their equipment on axles, so plastic bags, Christmas lights, extension cords and bed sheets tend to be the biggest culprits when things don't work properly.

"We call them 'tanglers' in the industry," Lynn Hoffman, co-president of Eureka Recycling said. "They get all wrapped around that equipment."

And when they do, the machines that usually separate paper and cardboard from containers effectively can't do their job.

Because of that problem, Eureka sends an employee into the machine, box cutter in hand, for about two hours every day. He or she then cleans the plastic bags out.

"We do it as safely as we can, of course," Hoffman said. "But it's definitely the hours the facility can't be running, and it's staff time they could be doing something else much more productive."

Another common problem is much more dangerous than plastic bags: lithium ion batteries.

Hoffman cites facility fires, which have become more common in the past few years because, she says, lithium ion batteries power just about every rechargeable item in the home.

Hardware stores, many big-box stores and public libraries accept batteries to be properly recycled.

To recycle clean and dry plastic bags, shoppers can return them to the grocery store.