Is it true that grocery bags you take back to the store get recycled?

I work in a retail store and we recycle plastic shopping bags, clothes hangers and plastic water bottles. I make plastic bags into plarn (plastic yarn) and knit them into reusable shopping bags. So, I sometimes dig in the bags customers bring back and recycle them myself.

Yes, they do. Wal-Mart has a big barrel to put them in for recycling.

At the stop&shop that my mom goes to they just empty the recycling bin into the trash. Maybe they have improved their ways but thats what they used to do.

maybe you are confusing re-cycle with re-use. The bags are sold to a re-cycler who shreds them and processes the plastic into new plastic products.

@benjaminlevi The owners of the store are throwing away good money if they still do that. Perhaps you could offer to take the bags and sell to the re-cycler yourself for extra income.

It depends on the store. Some stores have been exposed for not actually recycling. You can always check with the store manager and ask for real info about where the stuff goes. Where do you live?