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City of Phoenix Recycling Reminder

Phoenix officials are urging residents to take a different approach in regard to recycling soft plastics. Although hard plastic products like jugs, bottles, jars, cups and to-go containers are accepted the city’s blue recycling containers, plastic bags are not.

Lucas Mariacher, an official with the City of Phoenix, indicated that the city spends about $1 million per year sorting through trash that should not have been put in recycling bins, including plastic bags. Some other unacceptable items include batteries, thin paper products, large metal items, greasy cardboard food containers and specialty glass

Mariacher pointed out that plastic bags routinely jam the machines at the city’s recycling plant, along with a variety of other soft plastic items, such as shrink wrap or bubble wrap. “Essentially, it’s a steel axle that spins really fast with rubber stars on there,” he said. “As you can imagine, when plastic bags hit that machine, they get wrapped around there.” Because the amount of soft plastic being put into the machine is so high, employees are forced to stop operations in order to cut the material loose.


In lieu of putting soft plastic items in their traditional recycling bins, residents are encouraged to utilize drop-off locations at stores around Phoenix and various locations across the Valley. Residents can also view and print a convenient “Top 10 in the Bin Flier” on the city’s website.