Plastic bag and film recycling rate hits record high

According to a report released by the American Chemistry Council, Americans recycled an estimated 830,180,000 pounds of post-consumer film and plastic bags in 2007. This upward trend of plastic recovery resulted in an overall increase of 27 percent since 2005. These numbers are based on recovery data from 18 domestic processors or end-users of film material and 45 companies that export to overseas markets.

Exports of plastic film rose enough to cover the slight decrease in demand from the composite lumber market, which remains a significant user of scrap plastic film.