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I'd aim for the "reduce" part of the equation. Try not to buy food (or other goods) that come in packaging at all. Traditional chip bags cannot be recycled, so your only choice from a garbage generating perspective is to buy less chips. Same with frozen food, which alwas generates at least some nonrecycleable plastic.

Agree with @hja. We all know the phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" but it seems like the "recycle" quotient is all we hear.

Wait -- please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I thought that all kinds of plastic bags (including chip bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, etc.), as long as they're relatively clean, can be recycled along with plastic grocery bags. Many grocery stores as well as places like IKEA have large plastic bag recycling bins at the front of their stores.

I collect these bags in a great big bag of bags, and then take them over to one of these recycling spots when I'm going to be near one.

Anyone with more info on this?

I use those bags for cat litter.

Helle Jorgensen does some wonderful knits with plastic. She has directions for making yarn out of plastic bags on:

http://hellejorgensen.typepad.com/gooseflesh/how_to/

Sun Chips will soon be using a compostable bag and hopefully other companies will follow.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/sun-chips-compostable-bags.php

While it would be nice if we could all generate little to no trash, it isn't completely realistic. It sounds like you're already doing a lot to reduce, reuse and recycle. I would give yourself a break on the occasional bag of chips.

That yarn looks to me like nasty stuff, alas.

When I read those trash reduction blogs, it seems that a HUGE part of it is reduction of trash, period. The fact is that recycling is great - but it doesn't work for everything. An important part of the equation is to buy products with less packaging, or don't buy them at all. (And of course, its important to remember that recycling still has a cost. It takes energy, for one. Its always better to reduce your total waste output, even if most of it can be recycled.)

Elizinphilly, I don't know about frozen food bags - but I'm fairly certain that chip bags aren't just plastic. They have that shiny layer in them, and have such a different texture than other plastic bags...I wouldn't think they were recyclable with plastics, although I don't really know.

There is a company called Terracycle (http://www.terracycle.net/) that collects various non-recyclable plastic food packaging and turns it into marketable products. They'll even pay you for your contributions in certain circumstances. You can start a "brigade" and encourage your neighbors to help out, as well.

Awesome, marink, thanks for the link!