Vent: People keep putting plastic bags in the recycling bin at my office

I work at a small marketing firm in Portland and every day I see someone toss a grocery bag into the mixed recycling. It jams the sorting machine and costs the city extra money to pull out. Has anyone else had luck getting coworkers to actually read the labels on the bins?

2 comments

2 Comments

wood.noah5d ago

I hear you on the plastic bag problem. The point about jamming the sorting machine is the real kicker nobody thinks about. I've seen similar issues at our building and honestly the only thing that worked was taping a big sign right on the bin lid with a photo of a jammed machine. People just don't read small labels when they're in a hurry. Might be worth putting a small trash can next to the recycling for the bags specifically, since folks seem to need a visible alternative.

johnb955d ago

c'mon, plastic bags are thin and flimsy-they probably go right through the sorting machine without breaking anything, and if the city is wasting money on that, maybe they should buy better equipment instead of blaming normal people. i toss mine in there all the time and nothing bad has happened yet.