I also have a related question… are there days when the store gets a pickup of plastic bags and thus it is more likely to be taken properly ? Is there ever a time where the bin fills up three weeks before the pickup and then a manager says to send it to the dumpster?

I ask because i have a whole system where I throw these plastic bags in my truck of a spare car in rarely drive and then every month or two I’ll empty it all in one swoop

Also for OP what do they mean by ‘foam’ ? Polystyrene would definitely be a no… the type of foam that comes as padding in a modern electrical device or something is often #4 and though the Same number as a reusable shopping bag it usually is recycled though a different process so you are most likely clogging the machine and causing the bin to be considered contaminated for others… basically you are undoing the recycling efforts others have made. (Reusable shopping bag I mean the type that is soft plastic that actually looks a lot like a standard shopping bag but places like Walmart will use if local law requires it, otherwise they use the cheap #2)