Using plastic bags to warm the needy

Just by recycling plastic bags you could help keep some families warm this winter.

Keep America Beautiful is organizing the campaign to recycle your plastic shopping bags.  Phoebe Coles is Executive Director of the local chapter of Keep America Beautiful.  She says many people don’t know that the bags can be recycled into recycled deck material and fleece blankets

“Plastic bags are a foundation of the material, but it would also be some polyester and cotton, we doing a project now for every 200 bags (collected) we are donating a blanket,” said Coles.

Coles says 200 sounds like a big number to collect, but the number of plastic bags a person uses really piles up.

“On average when people go to the grocery store they are taking four and five bags out and that’s if they aren’t double bagging,” she said.  “If they are double bagging it’s more like 10 bags.”

Recycling stations can be found at most area supermarkets and convenience stores.