Section 2.2

Calculating your current disposal costs might help you in your decision to invest in a recovery program. Even though we encourage businesses to recycle for the environment, we understand that recycling efforts must make financial sense too. Step 2 allows you to calculate the cost of your plastic bag and/or plastic film disposal and then estimate the economic benefit of setting up a recovery program in the second section of the calculator.

Download worksheet 2

Enter the values below to receive an estimate of your monthly film generation. Please enter numeric values only. Do not include letters or symbols (decimals are okay).

Enter average monthly disposal: tons/month	Collect invoices from your waste hauler for the previous 3 months. Add the weights for each month together and divide by 3 to estimate your average monthly disposal

Enter the percentage of film in your waste: %	Observe your waste stream and estimate the average percent by volume of your waste that is film. Note: not all film is readily recycled.

Enter your disposal cost: $/ton

Enter your pull charge per container: $/pick-up

Enter your disposal container size: cubic yards

Recycling of plastic bags and polyethylene (PE) film is not available everywhere; however, many retail stores and some municipal drop-offs in the United States collect plastic bags and polyethylene film for recycling. This web site provides the public, municipalities and businesses a means to identify retail stores and recovery facilities that collect plastic bags and film for recycling.