Excellent news regarding recycling of #5 polypropylene – Preserve makers of a wide range of personal care and household products from recycled #5 plastic have partnered with Whole Foods Market, Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley to create the Preserve Gimme 5 program.
Gimme 5 is an easy recycling program for #5 plastics. Whole Foods will have receptacles at numerous stores across the country to collect the plastics which will then be used by Preserve to make products.
The Gimme 5 program is great news for people struggling to find a way to recycle #5 plastics.
Most municipalities (and the entire State of Rhode Island) do not accept #5 plastic at recycling centers.
At a time when many food manufacturers are switching to the lighter more durable plastic to save resources consumers have had a very difficult time recycling the plastic. Its caused a great deal of frustration for consumers who end up throwing their yogurt or other dairy containers into the regular trash.
Preserve Gimme 5 has been in the works for a while. I was talking to Preserve’s C.A. Webb back in October about the program – which was very exciting for me – as I live in Rhode Island where all recycling is handling through the RI Resource Recovery Corporation – which does not accept #5 plastic.
The program has the support of some major companies and as a result looks well on its way to succeeding. There is a Gimme 5 recycling location look up available – and there are many locations across the country where people can take the plastic. Preserve will also accept #5 plastics directly for consumers who do not have access to one of the Gimme 5 locations.
‘‘This program will save thousands of pounds of #5 plastic from being sent to landfills. We’re thrilled to join this program and to empower our customers to increase their recycling efforts,’’ says Jeremiah McElwee, senior Whole Body coordinator for Whole Foods Market.
‘‘We welcome this partnership and, thanks to a very successful pilot program at one of our Virginia stores, we know it will be popular with our shoppers as well.’’
By dropping their #5 plastic containers in a Preserve Gimme 5 bin, ‘‘shoppers are helping make brand new Preserve products that represent real change,’’ says Preserve founder and CEO Eric Hudson.
‘‘And by choosing Preserve Plastic versus virgin plastic, in the form of a toothbrush or razor, for example, we all benefit from a sizeable reduction in greenhouse gases emitted, and significantly less water, energy, oil and coal used in making the plastic.’’