I’ve been putting my plastic bags in the Hannaford supermarket’s plastic bag bin for years. I was recently told that it’s all just public relations – that the plastic is just put in a landfill.

Today I discovered this is not true. Hannaford takes the material to Trex (nextrex.com/view/educate), which makes composite decking out of it. It’s better than I thought. If it’s clean, they make pallet wrap, stretch film, grocery bags, bread bags, case overwrap, dry cleaning bags, newspaper sleeves, Ziploc, produce bags, cereal box liners, bubble wrap and more.

If we throw them away, plastic bags don’t just end up in landfills. They also pollute the oceans worldwide.

We should all bring our cleaned plastic bags to Hannaford or one of the other drop-off sites listed on the Trex website.

Rorick Sellers
Peaks Island