Weren't you happy when you realized that your grocer - Wal-Mart, Jay C Store, Kroger, etc. for example - will gladly take back the plastic bags that you have brought home by the dozens filled with groceries?
Of course, there are many ways you have reused them at home, such as lining wastebaskets, car litter bags, doggie-walking hygiene, etc. But there are always more bags than you can use, and since you are a good recycler, you hate to throw them away. There have been few opportunities to recycle them in this area. So now you can!
Hilex Poly LLC in North Vernon, Indiana is the final destination for many of these bags. There, they are processed into granular form and made into new bags for those same chain stores and others. They also accept other clear flexible plastics, from bread bags, toilet paper and paper towel wrapping, and bottle pack overwraps, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags.
It is exciting to know that the Hilex Poly plant is the world's largest 'closed loop' plastic bag recycling facility right here in SISWD's district!! 'Closed loop' refers to the process of turning a used product into a new version of the same product.
Plastic grocery bags and other clear plastics are made up chiefly of high density polyethylene (HDPE). This plastic is a 'hydroplastic' that is a byproduct of natural gas, not petroleum. This busy Hilex plant, the largest of the corporations' eight plastic bag plants in America, produces over 8 billion bags a year!
The company's environmental mission statement calls for the production of a product line that reduces the impact of plastic on the environment through recycling and increased recycled content. Because the product line relies heavily on recycled content, the company calls for environmental action by retailers and the community, urging the recycling of plastic bags.
To accommodate the growing interest in sustainability and the environment, the Hilex Poly produces a line of high recycled content bags through its Bag-2-Bag program -"Gray is the New Green". (The use of recycled content darkens the final product somewhat from its original white.) That's where your grocery bags enter the picture. At your local store, look for the large container placed at or near the front door to collect your bags. There are about 30,000 of them all over the country. You'll see Hilex Poly's name printed at the bottom.
In addition, to the Bag-2-Bag recycling program, the industry's first manufacturer take-back program, the firm has also developed a degradable plastic bag that can degrade in as few as eight weeks in sunlight and oxygen.
Last year, Hilex Poly used more than 120 million pounds of recycled plastic in its bags!! Because this reuse/recycling effort significantly reduces the deposit of plastics in our landfills, you can see why it is important to see that all plastic grocery bags are recycled.
The process begins with the bales of plastic on the plant's loading dock each is unbaled and sent through a series of washers, sorters and shredders until the plastic is in the form of granules. The granules are added to other resins to create the new plastic. The water used in the process is cycled through the company's own on-site water treatment plant and used again and again.
While SISWD has encouraged the use of reusable totes for grocery shopping, we have found that the use of plastic at those stores which recycle the bags is also an environmentally friendly alternative to paper. According to Mark Daniels, the company's vice president of marketing and environmental affairs, Hilex Poly generates 80% less waste and 91% less energy to recycle plastic bags than it takes to recycle paper bags.
That startling statistic calls for a round of applause for the innovative techniques developed by Hilex Poly a Great Great Recycling Neighbor! And it calls for you to be sure and recycle your plastic bags at a local retailer near you!