News Flash

Plastic bags and plastic wraps of different kinds ARE recyclable, but they’re not recyclable in your household recycling container. They have to be taken to drop-off sites, most of which are retail locations that you might already be visiting.

Why can’t they be recycled in your recycling container? There are two main reasons:

1. The bags and wraps wrap around the equipment that sorts the household containers and papers and brings the sorting system to a halt. 
2. Plastic bags that are recycled need to be free of grit and other contaminants that would make them unrecyclable, and when they’re mixed in with the household recyclables, they get dirty.

You also might wonder why your household recyclables cannot be put into plastic bags to go into your recycling container. When the recyclables get to TFC Recycling, they need to be free to roll around, be optically and manually sorted, and more. The plastic bags have to be torn away and thrown away. Your recyclables should go into the recycling container unbagged to make the recycling process easier. 

It’s easy to recycle plastic bags. All you have to do is keep them in a plastic bag until you’re on your way to your store or another location. Then you take them with you and drop them off. The hardest part is remembering to take them, but you can develop that habit!

What kinds of plastic bags and wraps can you recycle? Here’s a great list from Trex Company, which is a major plastic bag recycler in our state and receives plastic bags and film from many of our local retailers!

• Grocery and other store bags
• Produce bags
• Ice bags
• Ziploc and other reclosable bags
• Cereal box liners
• Case overwrap (think toilet paper and paper towel packaging)
• Bread bags
• Newspaper sleeves
• Dry cleaning bags
• Bubble wrap
• Plastic e-commerce mailers 

Plastics must be clean, dry and free of food and organic residue!

Where can you take your plastic bags and wrap? Here are the locations confirmed as of June 2020. When we are notified of additional locations we will add them to our list. If your business wants to be added to the list, please contact hccc@hampton.gov:

1. Food Lion, 1164 Big Bethel Rd
2. Food Lion, 21 W Mercury Blvd
3. Food Lion, 3855 Kecoughtan Rd
4. Food Lion, 85 Coliseum Crossing
5. Food Lion, 21 W Mercury Blvd
6. Food Lion, 2070 Nickerson Blvd
7. Food Lion, 608 E Mercury Blvd
8. Hampton Clean City Commission, 1296 Thomas St
9. Harris Teeter, 227 Fox Hill Rd
10. Kroger, 1050 W Mercury Blvd*
11. Little E’s in Buckroe, 313 Buckroe Ave*
12. Lowes, 2002 Power Plant Pkwy*
13. Walmart Neighborhood Market, 117 Marketplace Dr*
14. Walmart Supercenter, 1900 Cunningham Dr*

*Plastic grocery bags only

For more information, contact the Hampton Clean City Commission at hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1199.