Plastic makes a comeback

Recycled plastic products gain ground 3

The New York Times has an interesting article up about recycled plastic products. They're profiling a company called Recycline, which makes those bright green recycled plastic cutting boards, strawberry red colanders, and even toothbrushes.

According to the article:

Recycline's products, sold under the Preserve brand, make new products out of things that would otherwise be likely to end up in landfills. The company uses mostly recycled polypropylene, much of it from yogurt and cottage-cheese containers, along with some sustainably forested wood and recycled paper.

On one hand, the idea of recycling plastic, rather than tossing it into a landfill, is über cool. And polypropylene isn't (as far as we know) a carcinogen or an endocrine disruptor like BPA and PVC.

I'd like to see the idea taken one step further. This company is minimizing the waste in a system already in place. All those yogurt containers were designed without anyone seriously considering what happens after we polish off our yogurt. It would be great if people factored that in at the design stage.

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  1. JMG's avatar

    JMG Posted 8:54 am
    22 May 2008

    RecyclineWe've been using the toothbrushes for a while now -- they're quite good.  I feel a lot better about changing the toothbrush as often as I should (I'm hard on them, apparently) when I put them back into their little plastic case and then, when the rest are all done, mailing them all back in a post-paid envelope like I do with Netflix.  I'm hoping that the NYT exposure causes them to scale up so much that they can break out of the DFH health food stores and into more normal distribution chains.

    The 5% Project

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  2. Tasermons Partner Posted 8:58 am
    22 May 2008

    100% compostable containers......went to one of my fave eateries the other day, only to see, much to my delight, that they had switched all of their old plastic cups, lids, and straws, to new ones labeled "100% compostable" and "made from corn products".  Very nice.

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  3. meander Posted 2:08 am
    26 May 2008

    Composting and containersThe "100% compostable" marking on bioplastics is not always correct.  The material requires a relatively high temperature to compost, conditions found only in commercial or municipal facilities (those used to compost green waste from homes, like Jepson Prairie Organics in Northern California).  If you toss the containers in your backyard compost pile, they might never degrade. In a landfill, it's highly likely that they will never degrade because of the inert conditions.  (This post explains more of the bioplastic story.)
    Another way to handle yogurt is by using reusable packages. In the San Francisco area there is a company called St. Benoit Yogurt that sells yogurt in ceramic pots.  When you buy a pot you pay a deposit (50 cents or a dollar) to the retailer.  Many people love their product and their use of reusable containers is an extra attraction.  

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