Plastic bags have become a major issue for Southeast Eco 360 which oversees recycling and waste management in the region.
A tri-communities working group is now examining a survey about a possible ban on plastic bags and recommendations are expected by spring.
Eco 360 waste diversion coordinator Gena Alderson says the instability of the plastics market has been a major problem in recent years.
“It has been crazy lately… so it’s up and down and that causes problems for us. When the market goes down, what do we do with the material? So it’s difficult for us to manage that way.”
Being light and sticky, Alderson says plastic bags are also very labour intensive at the sorting plant.
She adds almost half of the staff are always trying to pull them off other materials and capture them.
