Remember to flatten. The issue of whether or not to collect plastics in St. Paul has been reevaluated by the City continually since the program began. Plastics are expensive to collect because they weigh very little and take up lots of space in the recycling trucks. Each truck would have to make several more trips to handle the additional material, but the added costs of collection would not be offset by revenues. Markets for plastic are difficult to find.
Communities receive little or no money or sometimes pay to get rid of the plastic they collect.
Some communities even store certain plastics hoping to find a market someday while others eventually trash the materials in desperation. Saint Paul will continue to evaluate this question by looking at costs and plastic markets. But the current market conditions make the possibility of curbside collection starting anytime soon unlikely.