City eyes removing plastic bags from recycling bins

It’s a tough market out there for recycled plastic.

In fact, market conditions are so poor that the City of Saskatoon may soon ban disposable plastic bags from recycling bins.

A report presented Tuesday to council’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee recommended the change.

Both Loraas Recycle and Cosmoplitan Industries Ltd. told the committee plastic bags were hindering their programs.

The material reportedly gets easily mixed in with other items and is difficult to sort out.

Plus, once recyclers do manage to gather it up, there’s nowhere to sell the recycled plastic.

The companies reported low oil prices have driven down the price of manufacturing new bags, making recycled plastic unattractive to buyers. As a result, they’ve been sending the plastic to the landfill.

Plastic film — the category including disposable plastic bags — makes up about two per cent of all items collected through the recycling program.

The committee passed a recommendation calling on council to vote to remove plastic bags from the items allowed in the bins.

If passed, the change would be implemented sometime in the fall.