At the Materials Recovery Facility where your recyclables are taken for sorting, workers sort materials by hand and don’t have time to open bags to see what's inside. Your plastic bags might contain recyclables like bottles and cans, or they might be filled with contaminants like food scraps, yard waste, or dangerous items like diapers and medical sharps. Because it's too risky and time-consuming to open bags, they are removed and sent to the landfill, wasting valuable resources.

Plastic bags also cause problems for sorting machines. They get tangled in conveyor belts and jam spinning wheels, bringing the entire sorting process to a halt. Workers then have to remove the bags by hand, which is both dangerous and time-consuming, and it reduces the efficiency of the recycling facility.