Dear Recycle Lady,
How many countries have banned plastic bags?
Curious Traveler
Dear Curious Traveler,
According to worldatlas.com, the first country to totally ban plastic bags was Bangladesh in 2002. Their ban came about because the bags were polluting their waterways and drainage systems. According to shunpoly.com, Rwanda now has a zero-tolerance policy on single-use plastic bags, and Kenya’s stringent law imposes hefty fines or even jail time for violators. A United Nations paper says that there are now 91 countries that have passed either a full or partial ban on plastic bags. As of September 2024, all Australian states have a total ban on single-use plastics. The U.S. does not yet have country-wide bans or fees on plastic bags. However, nine U.S. states have implemented a ban on the single-use plastic bags. The most common type of plastic now used for bags is Polyethylene (PET), which was first created in 1898, according to Plastic Education. The first plastic bags were invented in England in 1933. During WWII, plastic was a highly guarded secret as the US military first used it as an insulating material to place radar into airplanes. In 1953, High-density polyethylene (HDPE) that makes plastics light and strong was invented. In 1965, Karl Ziegler, one of the chemists who invented HDPE, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry and the one-piece plastic bag used today was designed by Sten Gustaf Thulin of Sweden. Single-use plastic bags first appeared in the large grocery store chains in 1979.
Dear Recycle Lady,
Please help us get the cracker and cereal boxes in the correct bin. Previously I read they go with paper and today the column said with cardboard. Thanks.
Avid Recycler
Dear Avid Recycler,
The simplest answer to this question is to put all boxes in the cardboard bin, regardless of the color on the back of the box. Some of the confusion over cardboard and whiteboard comes from the explanation of the “How2recycle” symbol. It says to put cardboard in with PAPER. What the symbol doesn’t say is that there are four kinds of PAPER: cardboard, white paper (office paper), newspapers, and magazines. Some boxes with this symbol are made of cardboard (same brownish color on front and back), while other boxes with the same symbol are made of whiteboard (brownish on the front and white on the back.) Putting all boxes in with cardboard means both cardboard and whiteboard get recycled, which is the best solution of all. If we were a large recycling center with lots of equipment, we could distinguish between cardboard (brown inside) and whiteboard (white inside). However, we do not have that capability, so our sorting is done according to requirements of our buyers. The company that purchases our cardboard accepts both cardboard and whiteboard, but the company that purchases our office paper will accept only office paper and not whiteboard.
Dear Recycle Lady,
The sandwich meat that I purchased last week came in a plastic container with a cardboard label glued to the lid identifying the product. When I removed the cardboard label, the glue remained on the label. However, I was able to remove the glue easily by running my thumb over it. Was it necessary to remove the glue before I put the piece of cardboard label in the recycle bin?
New Recycler
Dear New Recycler,
Good thinking. Yes, the glue definitely needs to be removed from the cardboard label before recycling so as not to contaminate the other cardboard. This glue also occurs on letters that come with a membership card, or other information stuck on it. Any recyclable item that has something glued on it must have the glue removed before putting it in recycling to prevent contamination.
Happy Good News Friday! Thanks to conservation efforts, mostly focused on protecting nesting female Hawksbill turtles and their eggs, these little half shelled heroes are off the list! Let’s keep up the good work on protecting all creatures on the Endangered Species List.
Have questions about recycling, or interesting information about recycling? Send questions or requests Recyclelady7@gmail.com. Dear Recycle Lady is sponsored jointly by the Greenbrier Recycling Center and Greenworks Recycling.
