Click the Image to View Larger
**AUGUST 2022** Channelkeeper’s film plastic collection program is currently paused.
Due to increased costs associated with shipping and transporting film plastic to the processing plant, the Ablitt’s film plastic collection project is temporarily on hold as they work to resolve the issue and find a solution that works for all parties: Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners, the production facility, and the manufacturer of the composite plastic decking material, Trex.
Until a solution is determined, there will be no film plastic collection at Channelkeeper’s offices or Ablitt’s.
Please stay tuned for updates.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please email [email protected] if you would like to schedule a sorting and drop-off at Channelkeeper’s office. To sign up to receive info about film plastic collection events at Ablitt’s, please sign up for their email list at Film Plastic Recycling – Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners & Tailors (ablitts.com).
Channelkeeper is proud to participate alongside the Community Environmental Council (CEC) in Ablitt’s Fine Cleaner’s plastic film recycling initiative.
Film plastics are items like plastic shopping bags, bubble wrap, shipping “air pillows,” and the thin plastic bags used to contain bread, produce, and newspapers. Most recycling brokers no longer purchase film plastics, which means consumers typically don’t have any other choice but to throw them away.
As a dry cleaning business, Ablitt’s ends up using quite a number of single-use plastic clothing sleeves. Owner Sasha Ablitt was frustrated by the waste, and after doing some research, she found a company willing to take her bags and turn them into pellets that could be repurposed into products like outdoor decking and benches. She invested in a baling machine and has been collecting in-house film plastic at her store since 2015.
In 2018, Ablitt’s invited the public to bring their household film plastics to their store (14 W. Gutierrez St.), and Channelkeeper and CEC joined in to offer our offices as additional drop-off locations. Channelkeeper’s office is located at 714 Bond Ave. Please contact us by email at [email protected] to set up an appointment to drop off and sort your film plastic. Click here to download CEC’s printable PDF of which film plastics you can and can not recycle.
Film Plastic that is collected includes:
- Retail, carryout, newspaper, dry cleaning bags (clean, dry, and free of receipts and clothes hangers)
- Bread bags or tortilla bags turned INSIDE OUT and shaken free of crumbs
- Plastic shipping envelopes (remove labels/tape as best you can), bubble wrap, and air pillows (deflate)
- Product wrap on cases of water/soda bottles, paper towels, napkins, disposable cups, bathroom tissue, diapers, and female sanitary products
- Furniture and electronic wrap
- Film plastics with a recycle number 2 and 4
- White Amazon mailers
- Clean ziplock bags (remove zipper tabs)
PRO TIP: If the plastic stretches with your thumb and rips in a jagged edge, it is recyclable. If it crinkles and rips straight, it is not recyclable.
*Another tip that a community member shared with us that has helped with the sorting is to keep plastic that you weren’t sure if it is accepted in a separate bag from all the good clean and dry film plastic.
Thank you for your efforts to divert film plastic from the landfill!