They can be, if pre-sorted correctly. But just putting them with the rest of the recyclables usually causes problems with clogging equipment - they get wrapped around things, then everything has to stop and workers have to go into the machines to clean them out. I assume future generations of equipment will improve on this but this equipment is pretty expensive to replace so it will take a while...

> They can be, if pre-sorted correctly.

There's no way to do this in my area. Nobody will accept plastic bags for recycling.

It depends. In Spain plastic bags are recycled along with other plastic and metal in the same bin.

They can be. For example in SF, they should be combined and put into a bigger plastic bag[1] to be recycled.

[1] https://www.recology.com/recology-san-francisco/what-goes-wh... (see under Recycle tab)

A lot of things you'd think can be recycled actually can't be. This video gives a good overview about the reason this belief is so prevalent.:

https://youtu.be/PJnJ8mK3Q3g

You can, but generally only in certain places in their own bin. Some grocery stores and some Home Depots offer plastic bag recycling.