Are the pellet bags recyclable?

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nanama72

Member
Hearth Supporter
Mar 9, 2008
101
Western MA
Just wondering if we're now contributing to land fills as we're trying to burn cleaner energy with our pellet stove.
 
Not sure if the plastic bags are directly recyclable, but you can repurpose them once empty. I had the same concerns when I received my 1st ton of pellets. Wow, 50 bags I would just be throwing away, and then thinking about how many other people have all those bags. I have been re-using mine in two ways: 1.) Use a trash bags for samll trash cans, 2.) I use them to hold the waste when I clean out the cat's littler boxes. They still end up at the landfill, but so do all other trash bags.

As biomass pellet burning gets more popular, maybe there will eventually be an answer to this which is more environmentally friendly.
 
In general, they are NOT recycleable. There may a few places that will take them, but not many.

I thought my recycler took them, since their flyer stated they take everything labeled #1-#8(?), but when I put some pellet bags out on recycling day, they didn't pick them up.

I called and they told me that they could not find a recycling company that would take the bags.

So, you're left with re-using them for other things....garbage, cat litter, etc.
 
Most bags have #4 recycle (stamped on bag) so we put them out
on the curb with the rest of the plastic recycles each week.
Our recycle truck takes the bags with no problems yet.
 
My town recycle truck takes them and as Tink
said most are stamped #4 recyclable.


macman said:
In general, they are NOT recycleable.
There may a few places that will take them, but not many.
BTW, you can sprinkle some in the garden....
helps the soil for next spring, from what I've been told.

Sprinkle the bags in the garden? Wtf? Guess you haven't had
coffee yet macman. lol.

Heyyyyy, when did everyone decide to steal my eernest tag line? :coolgrin:
 
zeta said:
...BTW, you can sprinkle some in the garden....
helps the soil for next spring, from what I've been told.

Sprinkle the bags in the garden? Wtf? Guess you haven't had
coffee yet macman. lol.

Heyyyyy, when did everyone decide to steal my eernest tag line? :coolgrin:

Oh man, did I ever screw-up there...LMAO....I was thinking about the whole recycling thing, and my mind (w/o aid of caffeine yet) started to wander to uses for the ASH....somehow I ended-up putting the two together in the same thread......oooooh....this may NOT be a good day!!!

Back to the #4 bag issue, my recycling company WILL take items labeled #4, just NOT the plastic bags. >:(

Sorry about "borrowing" the eernest tagline...I thought member in good standing of the PPC could do that, since he's the Official Grand Pooba :lol:
 
Some grocery stores are now using corn (starch?) based bags that are compostable for produce...hopefully most plastic bags will soon be a similar material. If the pellet manufacturers would follow their lead, then you really could add the bags to your garden soil!
 
A local recycling drop off (they only pickup some of my recycling curb side, which is pretty stupid...) has bins for plastic shopping bags. I was planning on putting my empty pellet bags there...
 
codebum said:
Not sure if the plastic bags are directly recyclable, but you can repurpose them once empty. I had the same concerns when I received my 1st ton of pellets. Wow, 50 bags I would just be throwing away, and then thinking about how many other people have all those bags.
Based on an average 3 ton use (no counting for the pellet pigs), that's 120,000,000 plastic bags nationally every year!
 
They're #4 recyclables. The ones I dont fill with trash (my 1 year old occasionally creates byproducts that are well contained by these hearty bags)
My town takes the bags in thier "everything" recycling bin. (glass/tin/metal/paper/cardboard/all plastics)
 
After having a back room with the bags piling up, I gave in and starting using them for trash bags.
My local recycling place doesn't take them. On the other hand, I haven't had to buy trash bags in
a long time.

I also advertised them on the local craigslist. Someone wanted about 50 of them for gardening..
maybe to put mulch in, or to use as a weed barrier, and another person wanted the rest to put his
kindling wood in.
 
the pellets I get from Canada do not have the Bag rating listed
Must but only a USA thing
 
DiggerJim said:
........ (no counting for the pellet pigs), that's 120,000,000 plastic bags nationally every year!

HEY! I resemble that remark!!!!!
 
I am going to put a few pieces of candy in each one of my empty pellet bags and give them out on Halloween...ha!
 
I bag my date with them
 
What we do is save every bag during the year and in April (When we clean the stove) we take them to the back yard and put a couple old tires on them to hold them from blowing away, and we light them on fire. Makes a real nice glow in the apartment complex. Some of the neighbors save their baby diapers and they throw them on the fire. Looks real nice, kinda romantic.

Eric
 
kinsman stoves said:
What we do is save every bag during the year and in April (When we clean the stove) we take them to the back yard and put a couple old tires on them to hold them from blowing away, and we light them on fire. Makes a real nice glow in the apartment complex. Some of the neighbors save their baby diapers and they throw them on the fire. Looks real nice, kinda romantic.
LMAO! Hey, plastic comes from oil right? Oil is burned in my furnace right? So why can't I burn the bags in my firebowl? Don't you love the sizzling plastic stringy things that fly out burning hot & melty? My wife used to be worried about that black cloud that goes 20 or 30 feet in the air so now we just do it at night and there's no black cloud that way. :-)
 
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