so, you recycle and return your plastic bags at walmart?

Question

have you ever seen them reused?
just what does happen to them after that big bin fills...
I asked at my local..and was told they throw them out..
so it gives us a false sense of doing something good

Does anyone here know what really happens to them, or was the clerk at my wallyworld right??

to recycle at home, reuse ...or
crochet shopping totes out of them, so that they can be used over and over again, we also are working on beach totes this year. dont worry about the looks people give you when you bring your own...be a trend setter..not a follower

here is a link to a pattern for those interested in crocheting a tote from them,

go mid way down the page to the purple reduce reuse recycle link and click on it...


wow..20.00 each...great little extra income...and from somthing that you can get for free...I encourage you to join your local freecycle.org and ask for bags if you run short...the list I moderate has had several do that, and each time are overwhelmed with them.

craftyminx.vox.com/library/post/to-market-without-marketing---on-cloth-shopping-bags.html

Answer 1

Maybe we should collect them and send them to the 1st answerer so she can crochet bags for all of us, lol

Answer 2

Walmart Recycle

Answer 3

WOW!! Those crocheted bags are a great idea!!

I really hope that the WM clerks are wrong about them throwing the bags out that were returned for recycling! I do not take mine back to the store but we do re-use them around the house and in the car.

Answer 4

I use my plastic bags for my trash instead of buying them. It isn't that I am cheap, it is just that I can't see wasting them. I do have reusable cloth bags that I use, but not all the stores want to accept them. I rather not argue with misinformed clerks who are earning about $5. an hour, so l just recycle them as much as possible. I always assumed that the bags were recycled at K mart, they have more to gain doing that,especially community support.

Answer 5

I knit them. Cut into strips, tie together, knit. Saw it in Knitty Gritty on the DIY network. They make nice change purses, too. I love the look on people's faces when I tell them "It's made of Wal-Mart bags." Classic.

I use cloth diapers for my kids. When I go out, I bring the dirties back in plastic bags and just toss the whole kaboodle in the diaper service bin. I know they recycle their plastic bags somehow. They even use washable ink on the bill and ask me to recycle it once I've paid. In any case, I'm the only one I know who always runs out of plastic bags.Go figure...

The only way to get recycling to be honest and viable is to make a big deal of it. BIG. When the places we drop off our recyclables begin to disclose their procedures as a matter of procedure, like McD's with their ingredients, those who recycle/ collect will be held accountable. It's not enough just to do something else with our own bags, and tell others to do the same.

Yes, plastic bags are bad. But they are not terminal. Unlike gasoline, plastic has the potential to live a long, recycled and happy life.

Answer 6

"Wal*Mart collects plastic bags, along with certain other recycleables within the store and makes a "Super Sandwich Bale" in the cardboard baler. (These bales can generally be seen behind the store) Then an outside company picks up these bales and transports them to regional centers where they are sorted and recycled into all sorts of things including carpeting, car parts, milk jugs, paper, cardboard, decking, packaging, and even clothes!!! Check with your local store to inquire about bringing other recycleables to the store. And yes, we do get paid more for the "Super Sandwich Bales" than for a regular cardboard bale (this allows us to have lower prices and still maintain profit). Just another way we are saving you money so you can live better:)"

Answer 7

I don't bring them back to Walmart to recycle there--I bring them back to shop again not using additional bags.

I live in a town where both college students and some hippies live--no one gives it a second thought when we bring reusable bags to shop in stores.

I like your idea about crocheting shopping totes--I never heard of that until now.

Answer 8

Yea, most places "collect" them, but once they get to the reycling plant, they're thrown out anyways.
Instead of getting plastic bags, ask for paper bags if it's available, or do the whole tote bag thing.

I bag groceries & praise the people that bring their own.

Answer 9

The company that I work for (a retail grocer) collects the bags and they are sent to a recycler. I they use them to produce more bags. Another recycler uses them to produce the artificial wood for decks and such. I don't know what Wal Mart does (and don't care as I consider them to be evil incarnate) but we see that the bags we collect get recycled.

~

Answer 10

some I return to various stores, some I take to work for library patrons to take their items home in. I use them to line garbage cans at home. from the store, they are taken to the bag maker and melted down to make new bags. some of the grocery store bags even have that printed on them.