Non-recyclable plastics: the Hefty ReNew program

Reworking your waste stream > Managing your waste stream > Non-recyclable plastics: the Hefty ReNew program

Image courtesy Hefty

Plastic is one of the longest-lasting materials that we use – and some types just can’t be recycled.

The Hefty ReNew program is designed to pair alongside current recycling efforts to help divert non-recyclable plastic waste from the landfill.

Benefits

Easy

All you have to do is bag your clean, non-recyclable plastics in an orange Hefty ReNew bag, and take it out with your curbside recycling.

Affordable

If you already have recycling pickup, participating only costs as much as purchasing some extra garbage bags.

Impactful

It can be easy to throw away styrofoam and chip bags, and not realize just how much waste you are producing – seeing the waste material you produce can be motivating to reduce your waste production entirely.

More information

Participating

To participate, you must have curbside recycling pickup. After that, it is as simple as purchasing a box of the orange Hefty ReNew bags from a local retailer, filling the bag with your non-recyclable plastic waste, and placing it in your curbside recycling bin. See below for a list of Lincoln bag vendors, such as Menards and Target!

What happens to the materials?

After your curbside recycling is picked up, the bags end up at one of Lincoln’s two Material Recovery Facilities – workers know to separate out the orange bags, and they are all collected at the First Star Fiber MRF.

According to the Hefty website, the priority use of materials include “mechanical end markets which use the hard-to-recycle plastics to make items including building products, construction materials and plastic lumber…When this is not possible, materials may be used in advanced recycling or to replace some of the coal that fuels the kilns used in cement manufacturing.”

How sustainable is it?

Every few years, Hefty produces a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of materials used in the Hefty ReNew program. More information on the results of previous LCA’s can be found at the links below.