Renew Liner Simply Does Not Care
A packaging product called Renew Liner is made from PET fiber. Unfortunately, the company FALSELY claims that this packaging is recyclable. As you can see, the packaging is a fiber and clear plastic film. To my knowledge, there are no curbside programs that can accept this material. It cannot be recycled with plastic bags at the supermarket, or in any other bag collection program and the manufacturer won’t take it.
When challenged by recycling professionals in New Jersey, the company’s answer is essentially, WE DON’T CARE…IT is your problem and we won’t change our product or our label.
This is arrogance combined with I don’t care.
Please call the company and register a complaint. IF you have purchased a product packaged in this material, contact the company from whom you purchased the product and file a complaint.
Finally, do not put Renew Liner into your recycling stream.
The telephone number for the product is: 415-389-5004
Read The Follow-Up Here:
Plastic is Confusing and the Recycling Symbol Often Makes it Worse.
Received something a while ago and put the renewliner it was sent in aside as as I am periodically selling on ebay and this seemed to be a great packing material for dishes. I wrapped some dishes up in it and sent them off to the purchaser, and I decided that I would purchase some of this and looked on the internet to see where from. Luckily I saw your post before I went any further. What a shame that they are deliberately misleading people.
First, thanks for reading my blog! More importantly, thanks for reusing the material..maybe the buyer will keep the reuse cycle going! Lastly, thanks for taking a real action! The power of the pursestrings is probably the most effective tool that we have.
I am happy that you were able to use the information!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm. I have a huge stack of it from all my home delivered meals. How about using it to insulate my shaheed and utility trailers? Will that work? Keeps it out of trash for 20 years or so. Maybe there will be a recycle option by then!
Thanks for writing Pablo…It is certainly an insulation material…HOWEVER…it is not fire rated..It can burn….I would say that makes it a fire hazard that you might want to be careful about….Maybe your local food bank can use it to insulate cold items for those in need and line a reusable bag with it? Not sure…
I wonder if they can be sued for claiming they’re recyclable when they’re not. Seems like false advertising.
I started saving them to reuse them. Now I must have about 50 of them in my attic.
In California they can..but not here in NJ…Please note that they can burn….Why not mail them back to the company?
Okay, maybe it can’t be recycled. It obviously has Ben recycled once already. What keeps it from being recycled again? It’s fiberfill. Like we use as filters in our fish tanks. It’s used at least twice. Please explain why you are so concerned about this.🙃
Thank Vivian,
When something says that you can recycle it as it does on this liner, it causes people to place this material in the curbside recycling program bins. Indeed, it tells people to do that. This causes a great deal of confusion and contaminates the curbside bins. It also results in potential clogging of the recycling processing lines at MRF’s. Finally, since it cannot be recycled in a regular program where PET is accepted, it is in fact not being recycled again but landing in an incinerator or landfill since the MRF is pulling it as garbage. Thus, my concern. As for your ability to reuse the material if you receive it..kudos..that is something valuable to be sure…
Wayne, I’m confused. I don’t see anything in your post or these comments that explains why they cannot be place placed and collected in a curbside recycling program. They are PET – same material as a water bottle – and labelled with the “1”. Why do you think they can’t be placed in curbside recycling?
Hello Chris and thanks for writing,
They are indeed PET but fibrous PET is not the same thing from a recycling perspective and from a physical properties perspective in the chemical world. That is, you don’t get to turn fiber back to bottles in normal programs. Also, no program is designed to pull this material from the recycling stream…bottles and containers are what curbside programs are designed to handle…thus, this material will not be removed it will pass through as waste. Finally, since it is flat it is most likely to contaminate the paper stream…since most mechanical sorting systems sort based on flat versus round. In the simplest terms, BAD! In truth in recycling label states, this would be illegal…hopefully soon in NJ too.
Wait a minute. This is exactly what dishwashers are blanketed in. Ask me how I know? I just paid $60 for a replacement for my dishwasher. I could have taped a bunch of these together for nothing. If it’s good enough to insulate food and medicine there has to be many other uses including reusable packing material. The whole ‘recycle to save the planet’ thing is disingenuous anyway. There’s billions of cell phones and useless polyester clothing sent to 3rd world countries where it becomes their problem to dispose of. Out of sight out of mind.
Thanks for writing Marge,
It certainly is reusable as a packing material. Indeed, I always recommend that reuse is the preferred option…As for your dishwasher..As I noted to Pablo, it is not fireproof..and thus, probably not exactly what is around your dishwasher..but it is similar.
As for your opinion on recycling, I am not certain about your factual basis…but recycling is statistically and factually proven to be helpful and beneficial from an environmental standpoint..Of course, it must be done correctly and only those materials that can be recycled should be recycled both at the curb and in other programs…(by the way, the main reason for my complaint on this material..they say it can be recycled with your curbside program AND IT CANNOT). As for cell phones, some states, like NJ require that they be recycled..and they cannot be just shipped overseas. As for clothes, that is certainly an issue…There are some companies that do not ship overseas..but I do agree that textiles are a problem that we need to address. Thanks again for writing.
I am sitting on a pile of this stuff. I have lined my own softshell coolers with some of it for added insulation, and am thinking of putting it on freecycle or donating it for school holiday crafts since it looks like a blanket of snow and the plastic outer layer peels off easily. I’m wondering if it could be used as polyfill for cushions🤷🏻♀️. Or duck taped together for sleeping mats for the homeless. I’m up to my eyeballs in those cornstarch water “freezer packs” too. Try disposing of those in a NYC apartment building. I’d gladly pay more to my meal kit delivery service to have the option of less of this stuff accumulating. I saved Amazon bubble envelopes for a year ahead of a recent move. Took care of cushioning and wrapping all of my dishware. Shared that on social media which prompted some of my followers to do the same.
HI Lisa,
I am amazed at the number of comments received on this material. It is hard to believe what a problem it is causing..Great for you to use it in soft shell coolers..I have done that when I receive it at well..but I am out of coolers. As for cushions, same comment as to others..it is not fire rated…so could be dangerous..and same goes for homeless, or any other sleeping mat. As for your cornstarch freezer packs, I have never used those, but I have found that with the freezer packs that I have received, along with grocery delivery bags, my local food bank is happy to get them for reuse…Just and idea…Thanks again…and brilliant for the Amazon bags…NOTE..the plastic Amazon bags CAN be recycled in a plastic bag recycling bin if the labels are removed..and if you can find a bin.
Thanks again for your thoughts. Keep recycling
Since Renewliner cannot be recycled at the curb, I have been giving the Renewliner away for free as packing material, posting a message on Craig’s List, Next Door, etc.
I plan to let my rep and senators know that the information printed on Renewliner is incorrect, asking them to put together measures that assess fines on producers of such products that provide misleading recycling information. Need to encourage producers to use materials that can be recycled or composted, or to set up programs to recycle.