The dramatic increase in recycling is in part driven by greater demand for recycled plastic and increased recycling of plastic grocery bags.

An estimated 812,010,000 pounds of post-consumer film (including plastic bags) was recovered in 2006, according to Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. of Sonoma, California. This represents a 24% increase from 652,477,000 pounds recovered in 2005.

Plastic bags can be recycled into many valuable products, including durable decking and new bags.

TREX, a northern Virginia company that uses recycled plastic bags to manufacture green building materials, has recycled over 2.5 billion pounds of plastic over the last 10 years into lumber substitutes for outdoor decks.

The value of recycled plastic is leading to new innovations in the bag industry too. Hilex Poly, a leading plastic bag manufacturer, established a program that recycles old bags into new ones called Bag-2-Bag. The program encourages consumers to return their used bags back to the store and then the store and Hilex do the rest.

Last year Hilex's work with consumers and stores recycled the equivalent of 400 million bags and reduced the use of new material by 8 million pounds.

The increase in recycling is expected to continue or accelerate, in large part due to the greater prevalence of plastic bag recycling; and as more retailers set up bag collection programs. California's 2007 at-store plastic bag recycling mandate and a similar measure in New York City will fuel continued recycling growth.