Plastic Bag Recycling

Plastic bags can be recycled in the UK, but it depends on the type of plastic that the carrier bag is made of. Normally you can recycle plastic bags made of HDPE or LDPE in your household recycling bin – though check with your local council or authority first. Businesses can sometimes recycle carrier bags alongside other plastic waste.

Ensure the carrier bags are clean, dry, empty, and untied. Some supermarkets have specific carrier bag bins to separate them from other plastic waste for recycling. For other types of plastic bags, you may need to take them to a nearby household waste recycling centre (HWRC) or supermarket with specific plastic bag waste bins.

To dispose of plastic bags from your home, check what your local council accepts in kerbside recycling – as you might be able to easily recycle plastic bags in your household recycling bins. However, bin contamination with non-recyclable materials could mean the entire load is sent to landfill. Putting plastic bags in general waste bins may also add to landfill.

In some cases, you can recycle plastic bags at your local supermarket. There are collection points at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, The Co-Operative, Asda, Morrisons, and Waitrose in many towns and cities, where you can return your carrier bags. You can find these usually by the main entrance.

Otherwise, visit your nearby household recycling centre where there may be banks specifically for plastic bags. Businesses must arrange commercial waste collection to recycle any plastic bag waste they generate.

If you use a large volume of carrier bags in your business, you’re responsible for ensuring they’re disposed of correctly. To dispose of carrier bags in your business you should:

• Ensure plastic bags are free from continents, clean, and dry before throwing them away.
• Store used carrier bags in the appropriate recycling bin or container – away from the rest of your plastic products and waste.
• Arrange for your carrier bag waste to be collected regularly by licensed waste carriers – who will transport to an appropriate nearby facility for recycling.

Check with your local council if plastic bags are accepted in household recycling bins in your area. Whether you can put a plastic bag in a recycling bin at home depends on the local authority and what types of plastic are accepted in their recycling bins. Some allow the recycling of HDPE and LDPE plastics including carrier bags while others don’t.

If plastic carrier bags are put in a general waste bin they may end up on a landfill site, where it’s estimated they can take upwards of 1,000 years to break down – even after this time, they don’t degrade completely. Instead, plastic carrier bags photo-degrade, which means they turn into microplastics that contribute significantly to pollution.

Some plastic bags in general waste bins will be incinerated. Recycling plastic bags means they’ll go to an appropriate facility with specialist machinery. Here, the plastic bags are fed into a large machine that breaks them down into smaller pellets. These pellets can either be reused to make new bags or used to create other polyethene products.

You can recycle carrier bags used domestically at recycling points for bags and other soft plastics in many UK supermarkets. These include Tesco, Sainsbury’s Asda, Morrisons, and more. Many accept other plastic bags such as cereal packets, bread bags, crisp packets, thin plastic food packaging, pasta and rice bags.

A plastic bag can take anywhere from 20 to 1,000 years or longer to decompose. The type of plastic and the conditions where it decomposes affect how long it takes. Carrier bags in landfill may take hundreds of years to decompose, while biodegradable carrier bags sent to industrial composting sites with optimal temperature and moisture conditions may break down in a few months.

Even if you put your plastic bag securely in your household waste bin, they’re designed to be so lightweight that millions escape every year and wreak havoc. They clog drains, cause litter pileups, and endanger wildlife that can suffocate or choke on them.

Plastic bags that end up in landfill can take around 300 years to degrade. As they break down over this time, they release toxic particles due to the plastic they’re made from. These can leach into the ground and nearby water, contaminating water sources used by animals, which can affect the food chain higher up.

Plastic bags are commonly made from polyethylene. This manmade material consists of ethylene monomers in long chains, developed from natural gas and petroleum. It’s lightweight and durable, which makes it perfect for bags. Carrier bags are typically made from either high-density polythene (HDPE) or low-density polythene (LDPE). Therefore, most carrier bags are a type of plastic waste.

Plastic bags are made through a complex scientific process called blown film extrusion. The pellets of polyethylene are melted down and liquified in an industrial warehouse. Then they’re blown into a very thin material, which is manufactured into the bags we recognise.

These are the steps to make plastic carrier bags:

• Polythene pellets are put into a machine that melts and liquifies them.
• This plastic is placed into a machine that blows the melted pellets into a tube shape by a process known as extrusion.
• As the plastic cools, it’s flattened into one thin sheet of plastic. The thickness of the sheet depends on the kind of bag being created, as some are designed to be more durable than others.
• Once flattened, the plastic is cut to the desired length of the manufacturer. Again, this varies depending on the bag being created.
• If the bag requires any branding – such as supermarket logos or distinctive colours – ink is added to the carrier bag during this stage.
• The bag is then run through another machine, which creates the typical bag shape – before the top of the bag is pierced to make the handles. The bag is then sealed ready for use.

The easiest alternative to plastic carrier bags is reusable bags. Most major retailers sell these for a small charge, or you can even reuse your current plastic bags that may last for years. If you purchase a reusable bag, some retailers will even replace it for free once it reaches the end of its life or becomes badly damaged.

There are various alternatives to carrier bags:

• Bags for life (designed for long-term use)
• Tote or fabric bags
• Mesh bags
• Paper bags

An obvious way to reduce the amount of carrier bag waste you produce is by simply reusing plastic shopping bags instead of throwing them away. You can use these products multiple times over because they’re incredibly durable and long-lasting. Try leaving a few in the back of your car to avoid forgetting them.

When they do break, recycling plastic bags in the UK is easy, as you can often take them to supermarkets with dedicated carrier bag bins. If you have a bag for life, most retailers will replace your old, damaged one for free too.

In most cases you can recycle carrier bags for free by placing in the appropriate bin. As a business that produces large volumes of carrier bag waste, you’ll have to pay for collection by licensed waste carriers. It’s a worthwhile cost considering that you’ll be helping to protect the planet and reduce pollution.

According to a recent study, around the world we use more than 500 billion (five trillion) plastic bags each year. That’s 160,000 carrier bags per second. Even though usage is decreasing in the UK, it still works out at 700 carrier bags per person on the planet every year.

Explore more packaging waste stats.

It’s estimated that over one million plastic bags are sent to landfill sites every minute around the world.

A few key facts about plastic bags are that:

• Between 2018 and 2019, around 1 billion single-use plastic bags were sold in the UK – according to government figures.
• Almost five trillion plastic bags are made each year worldwide.
• An average UK family can use up to 15 plastic bags in one shopping trip.
• 20% of Brits accidentally put plastic bags in their recycling bins when they can’t be recycled.
• 73% of the waste found on beaches is made from plastic products, such as carrier bags – according to National Geographic.
• When plastic bags end up in the ocean, they can contaminate water streams and cause the death of numerous marine animals who may mistake them for food.
• Less than 10% of plastic used in the UK is recycled appropriately.

Read more plastic waste facts.

Due to the dangers associated with carrier bags being sent to landfill sites, there are many initiatives that enable you to recycle them for free. Many supermarkets have collection points in-store to collect products that you can’t throw away alongside the rest of your recycling. Alternatively, you can take old plastic bags directly to local recycling centres.

You can recycle your plastic bags for free by taking them back to your local supermarket and returning them to a collection point. These bags will then be reused or recycled by the supermarket. Alternatively, you can check your local council’s website and enquire about a collection programme for plastic bags.