Do plastic bags shoppers return to Boise-area stores actually get recycled? What we learned

Walk into any of the stores operated by the four major supermarket chains serving the Boise area, and near an entrance you’ll find a bin inviting you to drop off plastic store bags and other soft plastics for recycling.

Gather ye bags and drop them here, the bins beckon. You’ll be doing a good thing for the environment.

But is that true?

The bins accept soft plastics that many community recycling operations, including Boise’s, do not. But after ABC News in 2022 and 2023 placed 46 trackers wrapped in plastic bags into store drop-off bins in 10 states, pings from the trackers showed that half of them ended up in landfills. Only four pinged from U.S. facilities that said they were involved with recycling plastic bags, the network reported.

The Idaho Statesman didn’t place any trackers, but we decided to ask the four chains — Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Walmart and WinCo — how much plastic they collect from Boise-area customers using the bins and how much is actually recycled. Not one of them answered those questions, though Albertsons did say how much soft plastic, from the bins and store operations, the company recycled nationwide in 2023.

We also asked the chains if they would allow us to observe and photograph how the plastics are handled in local stores. Not one of them said yes.

The Statesman does know that at least some of the plastics are delivered to Republic Services, the company that picks up trash, recyclables and compost from residents and businesses in Boise and several other Treasure Valley communities. That’s because a Statesman reporter and photographer saw plastics that Republic personnel said came from local stores during a March tour of Republic’s sorting center at 1990 S. Cole Road.

Our efforts to follow up with Republic to learn more about the stores’ plastics were unsuccessful. The company twice said it would get back to us but didn’t.

The bins are an extension of the stores’ programs for handling their own plastic packaging. Here is what the four chains told us — followed by more information to know if you decide to start or continue using the drop-off bins:

Albertsons

Spokesperson Sarah Holland said most of the Boise-based company’s stores offer customers a “convenient way” to recycle soft plastics in store, a service that is not available to most Albertsons customers through curbside recycling.

In 2023, Albertsons recycled more than 25 million pounds of soft plastics across the company, including both customer-facing and operational soft-plastic recycling programs, Holland said.

Participating stores can accept plastic bags, soft-plastic product wrap and soft-plastic shipping supplies that are clean, dry, empty, noncompostable and marked with a No. 2 or No. 4 resin identification code or the How2Recycle store drop-off logo, Holland said.

Albertsons’ soft-plastic recycling partner, which the company declined to identify, uses the material to manufacture composite decking and other composite materials, Holland said.

Fred Meyer

Fred Meyer stores have barrels right behind the entrance doors, where customers and associates can recycle plastic films, Corporate Affairs Manager Tiffany Sanders said.

The plastic film is converted into plastic waste, which is then collected with other plastic materials such as produce bags, by a partner company that turns it into composite decking, railings and playground equipment, Sanders said.

At the Statesman’s request, Sanders said she would put a reporter in touch with someone who could answer questions about how much plastic is collected and how much is recycled. She also said she would put a reporter in touch with the partner company, which she did not identify. Neither of those contacts came through, though the Statesman asked multiple times.

Sanders said Fred Meyer tries to make the recycling process for customers and associates as easy as possible by leaving bins in the store.

The biggest challenge is that customers might not be aware that they can bring their plastics to the store, Sanders said: “It’d be helpful to get more word out.”

Walmart

Walmart declined to tell the Statesman anything about its store-bag recycling program.

Walmart and Target were the chains chosen by ABC News for its trackers.

WinCo

Spokesperson Noah Fleisher said: “WinCo won’t be presenting any data, but we can tell you that the company has a very robust recycling program across the board.”

What plastics the stores accept

The soft plastics the stores take are also accepted by Boise’s Hefty ReNew program, more commonly called the orange-bag program. Those plastics are used to fuel cement kilns or fortify cement, lumber or other construction materials.



As the Statesman reported in an earlier installment of this Trash Troubles series, some plastics experts are skeptical of the Hefty program’s environmental benefits.

A Hefty page refers consumers to the stores’ programs when possible. Hefty says in part, “Please include plastic bags and wraps if store drop-off recycling programs are not available locally.”

If you decide to bring your bags to the supermarket, follow the instructions from how2recycle.info. That is an initiative of GreenBlue.org, a Charlottesville, Virginia, nonprofit whose board includes members from The Clorox Co., Walmart, Printpack (a packaging company), Georgia Tech and others.

That program’s word-for-word instructions are:

“Look for the How2Recycle store drop-off label on flexible polyethylene-based plastics, such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE, or No. 2 plastic) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE, or No. 4 plastic), including but not limited to:

• Grocery and produce bags

• Bread bags

• Plastic stretch wraps

• Newspaper bags

• Plastic mailers with compatible label

• Wraps around paper products (paper towels, diapers, etc.)

• Cereal bags.”

How2Recycle adds, “If the item has had contact with food or another product that may leave behind residue, be sure that it is clean and dry before dropping it in the bin.”

What happens to those plastics?

Again, here’s How2Recyle.info’s word-for-word answer:

“After collection, the flexible plastic is baled and sold to independent companies. Then begins the process of turning these PE films into tiny plastic pellets. These pellets can become synthetic lumber for decking or park benches, or they might be recycled directly into another film, pouch, or bag form.

“How2Recycle highly encourages members to source recycled content for flexible plastic items to encourage the end market of the store drop-off stream.”

How2Recyle.info’s site includes a link to a document that lists Albertsons, Fred Meyer and WinCo (but not Walmart) as partners in plastic bag and film recycling with Trex, a Winchester, Virginia, company that uses stores’ plastic bags and film to make polyethylene-and-wood decking.

Other U.S. companies make similar products, including here in the Treasure Valley. Trex’s principal competitors have plants here:

• The Azek Co., a Chicago company, opened a building-materials factory in 2021 in a former ShopKo distribution center in Southeast Boise.

• Fiberon, a North Carolina-based unit of Fortune Brands, has a factory in Meridian.

None of the companies obliged the Statesman’s request to learn about any Boise-area sources of their soft plastics.

Want to go plastic-free?

Multiple environmental organizations have concluded that the accumulation of plastics in the environment and other problems linked to recyclable plastics have not and will not be solved by recycling. Among other things, they urge a ban on common single-use consumer plastic products such as supermarket bags, food packaging, straws and balloons.

Twelve U.S. states have already banned plastic supermarket bags: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, according to a report published in January by three nonprofits that support the bans.

If you want to go plastic-free, you can start by bringing your own reusable shopping and produce bags to the supermarket. For more tips, or to get involved, visit beyondplastics.org/actions/join-reuse-revolution.

Business and Local Government Editor David Staats contributed.