Updated at: 11/06/2009 1:06 PM

New Recycling Programs in Duluth

Paper or plastic? The environmentally friendly choice used to be paper, but now one MN company is making plastic a green option, too. Minnesota Waste Wise has expanded the program "It's In The Bag" from the Twin Cities to Duluth.

Program Manager Kate Worley said, folks will be surprised what can be recycled. "Cereal bags are ok, ziplock bags if they're clean and dry without food with the zipper cut off are ok, salt bags if the tie is cut off."

From produce to pretzels, plastic is everywhere meaning there's more that folks can recycle. Consumers will take their plastic bags and throw them in recycle bins, but there's also a side for retailers. All of the used shrink wrap can be recycled as well. The plastics will be taken from stores, sorted at a facility in Duluth where a private company will pick it up to make composite decking.

This will save space in dumpsters, but according to Karen Anderson of the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District another plastic product is rapidly filling up the landfills. "By far the most thrown away recycleable material is plastic beverage bottles." Nearly half of the trash at convenience stores is made up of bottles and cans. Ellen Telander from the Recycling Association of Minnesota created the "Message In A Bottle" program to target Twin Cities drivers on the go. "MN is the first in the nation to have this way from home recycling program." And now the program is coming to Duluth.

Drivers just throw their empty bottles into one of the bins shaped like soda bottles. Each participating convenience store in the Twin Cities collects more than three tons of recycled bottles each year. Telander says this program won't require any additional government funding. "The sale of the recycled materials is what creates the revenue for the program and then in turn pays the individuals that are working on the program."

Anderson said both the "Message In A Bottle" and "it's In The Bag" programs help give the public a better option than landfills. "It really closes the loop. This material is used but then it comes back in and can be repurposed into another product." The following businesses are already participating in these programs.

"It's In The Bag" Participants:
Super One Spirit Valley
Super One- MIller Hill Mall Area
Whole Foods Co-op
WLSSD Materials Recovery Center

"Message In A Bottle" Participants:
Little Store Lincoln Park
Little Store Gary/New Duluth
Little Store Grand Avenue
Little Store Spirit Valley
Super One- Spirit Valley
Super One- Miller Hill Mall Area

Both programs have plans to expand into areas surrounding Duluth in the next few months.

"It's In The Bag"
"Message In A Bottle"