RECYCLE YOUR PLASTIC FILM
Bring your plastic bags and plastic film to Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County, PA to be recycled
You already know that donating your gently-used clothing and household items to Goodwill does good for your community by funding our Workforce Development programs. Now you can do even more GOOD by recycling your plastic bags and plastic films with Goodwill and TREX!
One of the largest recyclers of plastic film in North America, TREX uses more than 400 million pounds of recycled plastics – including more than 1.5 billion plastic bags each year to make its high-performance, wood alternative decking. A standard 16-foot TREX deck board contains recycled materials from approximately 2,250 plastic bags and is 95% recycled content.
Help Goodwill keep plastic bags and other plastic films out of our region’s waterways, beaches, roadsides, and landfills. Recycle with Goodwill and TREX!
1. View the list of plastics below that can be recycled with TREX
2. Locate a Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County store
3. Recycle your plastics in our convenient collection bins inside each store
Read the TREX – Goodwill Announcement here.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
At this time, we are only able to accept clean and dry plastic film for recycling. This would be any plastic that you’re able to push your thumb through AND is also free from all moisture and food residue. Plastic film that is wet and/or contains food residue can develop mold rendering it unfit for recycling. Some of the items we are not able to accept include: all firm plastic (bottles, toys, food storage containers, etc.), mixed material plastics such as paper mailers with bubble wrap on the inside, insulated bags, blister packs, vinyl, latex, bottle caps, six pack rings.
We want this to be as easy as possible for you so don’t worry about removing shipping labels (unless you want to)!
Prior to launching the TREX plastic film recycling collaboration, Goodwill of the Chesapeake, Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County, and Goodwill of Greater Washington collectively set aside more than 30,000 pounds of plastic film from clothing donations in just three months!
From our donation areas alone, we anticipate recycling 100,000 pounds of plastic film annually. Imagine how much more plastic we can divert from our area’s landfills as our donors, shoppers and members of the public recycle their household plastics in our Goodwill stores!
Recycling is in our DNA. From our founding, Goodwill has recycled and upcycled clothing and household
goods through our donated goods/retail program. Donated items are sold in our stores and help fund our workforce development programs (job training, retention and placement services), at no cost to the people we serve.
The majority of donated clothing comes to us in plastic bags – plastic that we have to pay to send to our local landfills.
Recycling these bags (and other plastic film) just makes sense! The money we save on our trash bill gets re-allocated to our mission services and we help to keep plastic film that would take decades or longer to decompose, out of our region’s roadways, waterways, beaches and landfills!
At this time, we’re aware of three Goodwills on the East coast of the United States who are recycling plastic film with TREX – Goodwill of the Chesapeake, Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County, and Goodwill of Greater Washington. Please contact your local Goodwill to inquire about their recycling programs.
ANY QUESTIONS?
Still not sure what you need? Reach out and we will be happy to help!