(Madison County, NY – Feb. 13, 2015) This is to notify the public there has been an amendment to the Plastic Bag Recycling Act.
Effective March 1 New York State residents can bring other film plastics such as newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags and shrink wrap to their retail outlet for recycling as well as plastic bags.
Madison County residents can follow the same procedure for recycling plastic bags as always. Place plastic bags inside each other, tie a knot in the top when full and place the plastic bags out at curbside with newspapers and cardboard. Other options are to drop off plastic bags at any of the County’s transfer stations or a retail store that accepts plastic bags.
The plastic retail bag recycling act has been in effect in New York State since Jan. 1, 2009. The law requires most retail stores to collect and recycle plastic shopping bags. Specifically, the act requires stores with 10,000 square feet or more of retail space and chains of five or more stores with greater than 5,000 square feet of retail space which provide plastic carryout bags to its customers as a result of a product sale, to:
- Establish an at-store film plastic recycling program. Stores must make collection bins for plastic bags and other film plastic recycling available to customers in a visible, easily accessible location. NOTE: There are slightly different requirements pertaining to enclosed malls, which differ from free-standing stores and strip malls.
- Ensure that collected film plastics are recycled. Stores are required to recycle the film plastic collected and are prohibited from disposing of the collected film plastic as solid waste.
- Label all plastic bags. Any bags distributed in affected stores must state “Please Return to a Participating Store for Recycling” or a similar message approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation.
- Keep records on their program. Stores, or their agents, are required to maintain, for at least three years, records describing the collection, transport and recycling of plastic bags. The records must include the weight of plastics collected and their ultimate disposition (e.g., where they were recycled).
- Sell reusable bags. Stores are required to allow the use of reusable shopping bags and make them available to their customers for purchase.
For more information visit the NYSDEC website: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/50034.html
Submitted by Mary Bartlett, Recycling Coordinator Madison County Dept. of Solid Waste & Sanitation 1-800-721-2208 https://www.madisoncounty.ny.gov/solid-waste/home