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Retailers Eat Up Sandwich Bales

One Wal-Mart employee demonstrates how to make a Plastic Sandwich Bale.

Thanks to Rocky Mountain Recycling Exit EPA, a company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, millions of pounds of plastic film and wrap that otherwise would have been tossed can now be easily collected for recycling by retailers across the nation. How did they do it? By just making a sandwich. A Plastic Sandwich Bale™, that is.

Merchandise arrives at retail stores throughout the country in corrugated cardboard boxes bound in thick plastic film or wrap. Large, in-house compactors compress the cardboard into bales for easy transportation to nearby recycling centers. However, storing the plastic film and wrap so that it could also be recycled was not always as easy.

Photo: Bin of plastic bags
Retail stores collect plastic wrap for compacting.

Jeff Ashby of Rocky Mountain Recycling developed a simple and innovative solution. Using a store's existing compactor, the plastic film is placed between two layers of corrugated cardboard, compacted, and bundled into a "sandwich bale." The system is flexible, allowing for varying amounts of cardboard and plastic. Rocky Mountain Recycling then collects the bales, separates the materials, and sends them to the appropriate recycling centers for processing.

"It's a no brainer," says Ashby. "Stores have nothing to lose with this system-they are recycling more materials, incurring no additional equipment costs, potentially reducing their garbage fees, and selling these plastics to recyclers for more than $350/ton."

From September 2004 to February 2006, Wal-Mart piloted this innovative technology in more than 300 of its stores, recovering 2,500 tons of plastic. Following this initial success, the Plastic Sandwich Bale system was implemented by Rocky Mountain Recycling in all Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in February 2006. As of April 2006, the stores have recycled 3,000 tons of plastics-the equivalent of approximately 545 full-grown elephants.

To encourage more companies to adopt this program, Rocky Mountain Recycling provides all interested participants with free setup, software, and employee training.

The Plastic Sandwich Bale Program exemplifies the types of activities encouraged by our Resource Conservation Challenge within the national priority area of Municipal Solid Waste and Recycling.

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