What do you do with 140,000 plastic bags?

ANSWER:Build a 500-square-foot Deck

In an earlier post, I mentioned a deck project that I was going to start. I was discussing the deck surface choices that are out there. That blog brought some reader's comments (which I always appreciate!) about other manufacturer's products. The homeowner's made TREX their choice. This winter was long and cold, so I didn't even attempt to start it. I started the project on April 9th and here it is!

In this case, this isn't a 300 square foot deck with steps and benches, it's a 84,000 recycled plastic bag deck!

In the May/June 08 Smart Homeowner 's annual Green Issue, there is an article titled Smart Use for Grocery Bags. TREX recycles plastic grocery bags for their composite decking. They launched its BagSmart Plastic bag Reduction and Recycling Initiative in Pa. and NJ. The company is working with major grocery and retail chains and Goodwill to encourage consumers to recycle their plastic grocery bags, dry cleaning bags and newspaper bags. There are drop-off bins at participating grocery and retailers. Goodwill Industries collects, sorts, bales and ships to TREX for repurposing. TREX use 300,000 tons of recycled plastic and wood scraps each year. Granted, this is a stop-gap measure. Until these plastic bags are banned, (as is happening in parts of the country), this is a way to reuse those awful "Paper or Plastic" consumers choices we have to make at the check-outs. And the homeowner's? They made a good choice.