Do Not Throw the Chip Bags in the Trash Can
Remember those loud Sun Chip bags that hurt your ears ? It was a massive environmental effort to be the first 100% compostable potato chip bag – and it was quickly abandoned after complaints that the bags were so loud they could cause hearing loss.
Bags for chips and other snacks are a hell of a problem for recycling businesses because of the mixed materials. Judging by the different plastic species it contains, it’s safe to say Cheetos bag is way more complicated than your regular food container.
Most often, chip bags are made from a number of different layers, but mostly from polypropylene or plastic # 5, as determined by the resin code; The outer and inner layers of polypropylene plastic in chip bags provide moisture barrier to the chips so they remain crispy. (You can also find polypropylene in things like yogurt containers .) The inner polypropylene layer is aluminum coated to help reinforce the plastic, and between these polypropylene layers is another type of plastic called polyethylene , which gives the bag a strong yet flexible hold.
When the bags are ready to ship, they are also pumped with nitrogen to keep the chips intact (unlike, say, oxygen, nitrogen doesn’t affect the flavor of the chips). Together, this whole process creates a complex hybrid of plastic materials that is not easy to recycle in some businesses, although you can always use the Earth911 locator to find a business that can take your bags, or do an online search for your curb recycle program. regulations.
In the likely event the Earth911 search comes dry or your curbside program doesn’t accept them, you have one option: TerraCycle offers an in-mail recycling program that collects everything from individual snack bags into this family-sized chip bag to be recycled into hard plastic. It’s a free process and you can submit them using TerraCycle prepaid labels.
Otherwise, yes, your only other option is to throw your chip bags in the trash or sacrifice your chip habit permanently, although this is probably easier said than done.