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.

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Why can’t the makers of yogurt switch plastics? For one thing, as yogurt maker Stonyfield Farms has discovered, making the lightweight plastic tubs out of #5 plastics actually saves resources and uses less plastic overall.

By using #5 plastic instead of #2, each year we prevent the manufacture and disposal of over 100 tons of plastic, resulting in environmental savings from the decreased air emissions and resource depletion from the manufacture and distribution of the packaging. In addition, the polypropylene is manufactured without the use of chlorine, thus eliminating the hazards of deadly dioxin releases during manufacture and incineration, which occur with certain other plastics.

However, even if wide-mouthed containers were made from #2 plastics (and many are), they might not be getting recycled anyway. While recycling companies may accept all #2 plastics to avoid consmer confusion, some just recycle bottles and not wide-mouthed containers since these different shapes are molded using different processes and have different melting points.

So should you stop eating yogurt? Not necessarily. Unlike other yogurt manufacturers, to further reduce their impact, Stonyfield created a partnership with Recycline, makers of Preserve toothbrushes and razors, to give #5 plastic containers another life. If your local recycling program does not accept #5 plastic containers, you can send clean Stonyfield cups to Stonyfield Farms to ensure your yogurt cups stay out of the landfill.

Visit Planetsave to find out how to help Stonyfield Farms fight climate change.

Entry updated 9/28/07 to reflect that soda and water bottles are made with #1 plastics and #2 plastics, not just #2 as previously stated.