Kepta
Plastic Bags, Bread Bags and Produce Bags: Where They Can and Can't Go
A kitchen produces a steady stream of thin plastic: bread bags, produce bags, the liner inside the cereal box, plastic wrap, grocery bags. It all feels like plastic, so it feels like it belongs in the recycling bin. It doesn't, and this is one of the few recycling rules that holds almost everywhere.
Never in the recycling bin
Plastic bags and wrap don't go in curbside recycling. They tangle in the sorting machines (EPA, Kent County, Recycle Ann Arbor). Ohio's examples agree: Rumpke says no to plastic bags, and the City of Cincinnati says no to plastic bags and wrap (Rumpke, City of Cincinnati).
That includes using a bag to hold your recyclables. Recyclables go into the bin loose, not bagged (UT Austin, Rumpke).
Where clean film can go
In the US, clean, dry plastic film can go to a store drop-off bin where one exists (EPA, Kent County). The national How2Recycle label program has a separate Store Drop-off label for clean plastic film, apart from its three main tiers (How2Recycle), and in 2025 it redrew that label without the chasing arrows (Packaging World).
For the kitchen, that means:
- Bread bags and produce bags: shake out the crumbs, let them dry, and save them for a store drop-off bin if there's one near you.
- Grocery bags: the same.
- Anything else made of film: only clean, dry film qualifies (EPA, Kent County).
Bags that usually aren't taken, even at the store
Chip bags and frozen food bags are usually not taken, even at store drop-off bins (Kent County, Recycle Ann Arbor). If you can't find anywhere that takes them, the trash is the answer.
What about "compostable" bags?
They don't belong in the recycling bin either; the EPA says compostable plastics are not for recycling (EPA). They only help in a compost program that says it takes them, and many compost sites don't. A CalRecycle survey cited by San Francisco in 2023 found only 3 of 17 responding compost facilities accepted compostable plastics (San Francisco). An industry funded survey found far higher acceptance, so there is no single national rate.
Empty the bag first
Food comes out before any bag goes anywhere. Stale bread, the last few soft grapes, a forgotten bag of greens: fruit, vegetables and bread can go in a home compost pile or your town's food scrap bin if you have one, and otherwise the trash (EPA, NYC Sanitation).
It matters where that food goes. In a landfill it rots without air and makes methane, and the EPA estimates food waste is about 58 percent of the methane that escapes from municipal landfills (EPA).
How to check your area
Search your city or county website for "recycling," or try Earth911's search, which looks up materials by location in the US. Your town's list comes first.
Bread is one of the easiest things to forget in its bag. Kepta gives every item a freshness color and sends a daily reminder that names real items, to help you use the loaf before it goes bad, so less of it gets thrown out.
