Plastic bag ban paying off big for Salinas

Paper or plastic?That’s anold question that’s quickly becoming extinct for shoppers on the Central Coast and beyond. Santa Cruz, Capitola, King City, Monterey and Carmel are some of the local cities that have outlawed single-use plastic bags. But as of July 1 all grocery stores in California will have to switch to reusable bags.

Located off Espinosa Road in Salinas sits mountains of plastic ag waste from farms around the Central Coast. To Aviv Halimi who runs Encore Recycling, all that trash is a treasure waiting to happen. About two years ago the company moved into the old Firestone Business Park in Salinas. The plant recycles more than 15 million pounds of plastic agriculture waste per year, and it’s all used to make reusable plastic bags.

“There’s an estimated100 to150 million pounds of ag waste generated in California alone every year. Of which we estimate about 40 to 50 million just in the Salinas/Watsonville area,” said Halimi.

Pacific Gold Farms farmer Paul Frost manages 500 acres of strawberries in the Salinas Valley. Through the growing cycle he uses plastic sheets to keep the fruit clean. That’s 500,000 pounds of plastic per year that used to go to the landfill.

Frost said, “As the plants grow during the year they’ll get to be this size and there’s no way to cut it and get it cut off in one piece so we can’t put it back on next year’s crop. It would be impossible to reuse.”

Not anymore – Encore Recycling takes all the old plastic, cleans it, melts it down – and then ships it to Southern California where sister company Command Packaging converts it into reusable plastic bags.

“We don’t have to take it to the landfills anymore, and it was very expensive,” said Frost.

Frost said it used to cost his company $50,000 a year to dump all his plastic waste. But farmers aren’t the only people benefiting from this new technology. Over the past two years, the recycling operation has brought in 500 jobs. Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter said it all adds up to a big boost for the local economy. A new way for the city to embrace its ag roots and reap the rewards.

“When you’re employing 500 people and they spend money in the surrounding Monterey County economy, that’s huge,” said Gunter. “They are buying houses, they’re buying cars, they’re going to the grocery store to shop. They’re buying gasoline for their car. Everything they do affects our economy.”

And in this case the environment too! Keeping tons of plastic waste out of landfills, and putting it into the hands of shoppers in the form of reusable bags.

Currently 84 businesses in Monterey County use the reusable plastic bags.