New Way to Recycle Your Number 5 Plastic
Too many old yogurt containers concealing ancient leftovers in your refrigerator? Seems that we all have a stack of them cluttering the cabinets in our kitchen–the price we pay for enjoying yogurt, sour cream or anything that comes sold in those shiny Number 5 plastic containers and also having a conscience.
Luckily Preserve, makers of 100% recycled personal care products, has started a new program to recycle the pesky plastics even when your municipality does not. They’ve partnered up with organic dairy producers, Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley, to turn used plastic dairy containers into toothbrush handles. Consumers can return the plastic containers, along with used Brita water filters, into bins at any of the participating Whole Foods markets in the Midwest, Northeast and Northern California.
Many residential recycling programs don’t accept yogurt containers because of the type of plastic they are made of. Many yogurt containers and margarine tubs are made with #5 plastics (polypropylene) or #2 (HDPE - High Density Polyethylene), while many clear soda and water bottles are made from #1 (PET - polyethylene terephthalate) and cloudy bottles, such as milk jugs, are made of #2 plastics.
