recycle more

I wrote a letter to the Unilever company here in NJ. They make hundreds of beauty, household, and food products. I have requested they send me envelopes so that I may return empty product containers to them in order for the company to recyle them properly. Let’s see whether I will receive a response. I also mentioned that if they cannot fulfill my request, I will purchase from another company that offers this service to me. Pretty bold, but I mean business!

I’ve done some research, and hope this will be helpful to someone. Let’s keep this plastic out of the landfills.

Check out Preserve Products (preserveproducts.com). This company makes products from 100% recycled materials. They have a program called Gimme 5 that collects #5 plastics. These are plastics like medicine bottles, yogurt and margarine containers, Brita filters, etc. If you live in CA, CT, MA, NJ, NY, or RI, you may be able to drop them off at a Whole Foods market in your area. Otherwise, if you’re really committed to the cause, you can mail them to: Preserve Gimme 5, 823 NYS Rte 13, Cortland NY 13045.

Fortunately, there is a Whole Foods store in my area. I’m happy to add this to my recycling efforts.

I am working toward recycling more. I do recycle paper, glass, cans, and plastic bags. I have bins that I fill up and I drop them off at the recycling depot in my town. I am also fortunate that the depot accepts old appliances and computers, for recycling. I also learned that most bottle caps are not recycled. I discovered that the Aveda stores collect plastic bottle caps, and recycles them to make new packaging. So, whenever I collect a good quantity, I drop them off at Aveda in the mall. I am more selective about the products I buy, and try to get ones with recyclable packaging.

However, I don’t know what to do with the plastic that is not #1 or #2. I don’t know of any places that recyle them. I often see the #5 for food containers and medicine bottles. I just throw them away right now. Any other suggestions?