The Orange Bag Collection Continues

After Hefty made the announcement they were ending the orange bag program and discontinuing making the Hefty Renew orange bags effective June 2027 (see https://www.hefty.com/hefty-renew), we participated an interview on the topic, reported in the August edition of Resource Recycling

“It’s disappointing, but not totally surprising that Hefty is pulling the plug,” First Star CEO Patrick Leahy told Plastics Recycling Update. “Hefty really drove the conversation and tried to get at the problem.” The problem with soft plastics in the waste stream still exists and First Star Recycling will continue to collect the materials for plastic lumber manufacturing.

Residents and commercial accounts can either buy bags through First Star, or use orange bags from other commercial outlets. “The reason we stuck with orange is that it’s just a color that ‘pops’ in our system during the manual sort,” Leahy said. 

To read more about First Star’s orange bag collection program, go to https://www.firststarrecycling.com/orange-bag.