Plastic bags collected for recycling are being warehoused until market improves

Plastic bags from Bloomington and other Indiana communities are being stored at the Republic Services recycling center in Indianapolis, according to Kenny Depasse, government affairs representative with Republic Services.

"The recycling markets are challenging right now," Depasse said. "We're warehousing (the plastic) until we can find end users for it. 

The problem doesn't just include plastic shopping bags and dry cleaner plastic covers. Businesses such as Republic say it's tough to find a place to take many of the recyclable items since China has stopped taking them from other nations.

"All commodities at this point are quite a struggle," Depasse said. "A great deal of material used to go to China. ... It started toward the end of last year. In the spring of this year, (China) cut accepting all material" from other countries.