Philadelphia residential recycling does not accept plastic bags. Period.
Why? Because they wreak havoc on the recycling process by getting caught in and fouling up the sorting machines – that is why the city refuse crews are not required, actually shouldn’t pick up any recyclables in plastic bags.
Recycling needs to be put loose in solid sided containers. It would be even better if the solid sided container was labeled with the word RECYCLING.
Yet every trash pick-up day, there are more and more folk putting out their recycling in clear, blue tinted, plastic bags. Those blue, plastic bags end up in the landfill. They do not go to the recycling plant and all that work of cleaning and sorting and separating is for naught.
Where did this new, blue bag trend start? Some folk say that they used to use blue bags in their old city. Some folk say they saw the bags in the store. Alas, every jurisdiction has its own methods and regulations and in the City of Philadelphia plastic bags – blue, green, white, or rainbow – stay out of the recycling stream….
EXCEPT….
The city itself uses clear, blue, plastic bags to collect recyclables at major events, at the Convention Center, and in curb side recycling containers. This may be causing confusion – why them and not me – and has led to a pretty rapid adoption of the blue bag practice.
The timing of this rapid adoption couldn’t really have come at a worse time. The Philadelphia Streets Department just rolled out its revamped registration requirements for obtaining a new recycling bin. One neighborhood 
association President quips that it is now easier to obtain a handgun than it is to get a recycling bin. That is a big problem. Why bother with all that rigmarole when you can just shove it all in a bag, tie it up and throw it out to the curb. The recyclables don’t get wet, they don’t blow away, the bags are inexpensive, and are easy to store and carry – what is not to love.
EXCEPT…
The logistics of the recycling process do not mesh with accepting the bags into the stream. Currently Philly has a pretty good average residential recycling rate and it has set an aspirational goal of zero waste to landfill by 2035. To get there the recycling rate needs to climb up sharply. In light of this goal, it seems that impeding resident access to bins that help them participate is short sighted at best.
The Streets Department’s Office of Recycling faces a challenge in clearing up the messaging. A suggestion from the trenches? Start an aggressive marketing campaign like the one shown and then forget the recycling bin registration. Start fresh. Get Streets volunteers to go door-to-door, neighborhood-to-neighborhood and give everyone a brand, new bin. While at the door talk about the how’s, why’s and where’s of recycling. Engage the citizenry and get them excited again. Recycling isn’t drudgery, it is contributing to the creation of new raw materials for products that are being and may soon be created right here in our local economy.
What should you do? Use any leftover blue bags for trash and get yourself a hard sided container to put the recycling out for pick-up. And remember, the myth of the blue bag is just that, a myth.
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This is really stupid! Recycling bins get stolen all the time in Philadelphia. How is one supposed to keep recycling? What about the tiny streets that have to put their bins on an adjacent street?? There needs to be a better way to do this. In NYC, the recycling is separated by each resident and it all goes —separated—in separate heavy duty recycling bags. Makes things a whole lot simpler. Recycling needs to be made easier, not more difficult!!