Bag Central Station

ABOUT

Established in 2007, Bag Central Station (BCS) is a campaign launched by the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance to address the issue of recycling plastic bags. This proactive program continues to provide consumers with a choice when they shop at their local grocery store (paper, plastic, or reusable bags) while minimizing the environmental impact of plastic bags.

BENEFITS

How does this service help you?

• Facilitates consumer choices (plastic, paper, reusable)

• Reduces waste

• Reduces environmental contamination

ELIGIBILITY

Which types of bags are recyclable?

• Grocery bags
• Dry cleaning bags
• Bread bags
• Department store bags
• Shrink wrap

LOCATIONS

• Albertsons-Safeway
• Bashas’ (Incl. Food City and AJ’s)
• Fry’s (Incl. Marketplace and Mercado)
• IGA Family of Stores
• Los Altos Ranch Markets
• Wal-Mart

PARTNERS

Each partner city has specific guidelines and restrictions. To find out more, click the city’s name to visit their recycling information center!

Our partner cities include Avondale, Chandler, Flagstaff, Glendale, Kingman, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Tempe, Tucson, and Williams.

FACTS ABOUT RECYCLING BAGS

THE HARM OF INCORRECTLY DISPOSING PLASTIC BAGS

• It takes months to hundreds of years for plastic bags to breakdown in landfills.

• Plastic bags eventually break down through a process called photodegradation, which releases harmful toxins into the soil.

• When mixed with curbside recyclables such as bottles and cans, plastic bags can cause severe complications and damage processing machines at recycling facilities.

WHAT ABOUT PAPER BAGS?

Which types of bags are recyclable?

• It is a common misconception that paper bags are friendlier to the environment than plastic bags.
• The production of paper bags emits 70 percent more pollution than the production of plastic bags.
• It takes 91 percent more energy to recycle a pound of paper than a pound of plastic.
• The EPA has recently stated that paper does not degrade much faster in landfills than plastic.

HOW BAG CENTRAL STATION HELPS CONSUMERS

Plastic bag bans do not solve the problem as most consumers will instead use paper bags.

• The solution is to provide consumers with a choice and the ability to correctly recycle plastic bags.
• Bag Central Station provides consumers with a place where they can recycle their plastic bags.
• Recycled plastic bags are turned into new bags, composite lumber, and other useful items.

FIND A DROP-OFF LOCATION

Visit PlasticFilmRecycling.org to locate your nearest recycling location

Sources:

National Geographic “Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment?”

Reuseit “Facts About the Plastic Bag Pandemic”

eHow “Advantages & Disadvantages of Using Brown Paper Bags”

Chicago Tribune “Plastic bags a headache for recyclers”

WiseGeek “What Happens to Recycled Plastic Bags?”

The Trash One Person Produces in a Year;

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Students at St. Gregory’s Elementary win $1,000 in grocery gift cards.

Bag Central Station has helped ignite youth enthusiasm towards recycling. To celebrate Earth Month, the city of Phoenix Public Works Department, in partnership with Bag Central Station, held a recycling contest. The winner of the plastic bag recycling contest was awarded $1,000 in Grocery gift cards during a morning assembly.

St. Gregory Catholic School was the winner of the contest from among eight Phoenix schools. The school has a total of 300 students and each student collected 196 plastic bags to be recycled.

To honor St. Gregory’s as the winning school in the plastic bag collecting contest, a morning assembly was held, attended by the City of Phoenix, Councilman Simploton’s office, AFMA, and Bashas’. Following the presentation of $1,000 in grocery gift cards, students received a Bag Central Station logo-ed sugar cookie, a bottle of water, and a reusable bag from contest partner and sponsor, Bashas’.

Source: Arizona Food Industry Journal, June 2013