Plastic Free July

Today kicks off the annual Plastic Free July movement, which aims for millions of people to be part of the solution to plastic pollution, enabling us to have cleaner streets and oceans and beautiful communities.

This year is the 10^th year for the movement that has now inspired over 250 million participants in 177 countries, according to Plastic Free July's Facebook page.

It’s not about being perfect (there is no failing with Plastic Free July) but rather starting by looking at the plastics in your life (look inside your bin, fridge or pantry) and choosing to refuse one single-use plastic.

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Photo Friday | Plastic Free July

So here's something I've seen floating around this week, as we finish up the first week of Plastic Free July:

Did you know that every piece of plastic that has ever been created still exists in some form on our Earth today? Despite recycling efforts, only 9% of that plastic ends up in new products.

Think about that, and think back on all of the single-use plastic you've used in the past. The toothbrushes you used as a child still exist, even if you threw them away 25 years ago. That Styrofoam takeout container from a restaurant 10 years ago is still around somewhere, whether it's in a landfill or somewhere out in nature. The thousands of straws you've used over the years are all still on this planet.

When you throw plastic away, it doesn't disappear. Because plastic doesn't biodegrade, it either sits in a landfill, or becomes litter and pollution. When you recycle plastic, sometimes it becomes a "new" product, and sometimes it still ends up being thrown away if it's contaminated. And not all plastics are recyclable.

Plastic Free July is a global initiative that focuses on reducing single-use plastics and improves recycling worldwide. 

This month, I'm aiming to look at where I can reduce more plastic in my own life. I'm in the habit of not getting single-use coffee cups or straws, but there are still plenty of areas where I can improve.

For example, I was recently out and about near lunchtime and needed to pick up some food to bring back to my office. I ended up going with the Whole Foods hot bar, where I was able to avoid getting lunch in a plastic or Styrofoam container. My tea can is recyclable and I had a reusable fork at work that allowed me to skip the plastic cutlery.

When you have a choice, choose to refuse single-use plastics. And of course, it's understandable if sometimes you slip up - it happens to all of us! Plastic Free July is not an all-or-nothing approach. It's about becoming more aware and putting in more effort to reduce your plastic waste. 

If you end up with a plastic iced coffee cup, keep it until you can rinse and recycle it. If you forget to ask your waiter not to bring a straw, just remember the next time you're out. If you left your cloth bags at home or in the car, see if it's possible to go without a bag at all.

Read my Times of Acadiana column all about Plastic Free July!

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Photo Friday | Updates to Lafayette's Recycling Service

I love when my community has positive recycling/environmental news to share - it's great for the city and it's great for blog content.

This week, Lafayette City-Parish Councilwoman Liz Webb Hebert made an announcement on her Facebook page that made me look like these GIFs:

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Reducing Plastic on a Larger Scale

Last month, beloved local restaurant Tsunami Sushi announced on Facebook that they are adopting a no-straw policy in all three of their locations: Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The announcement garnered a lot of activity and a lot of excitement from zero-waste fans on social media.

They cited the amount of single-use straws that kill marine life as one of the factors in their decision...and it's a fitting factor considering the amount of seafood Tsunami serves every single day. The restaurant says they're more motivated by the long-term impact on the environment than any potential cost savings that come from reducing the number of straws they go through (a savings they mention is insignificant.)


You might be wondering why it matters for a restaurant in South Louisiana to worry about its waste while citing the amount of trash in the ocean. No, we're not geographically near the Atlantic or Pacific, but since everything is connected, straws that we throw out or that become litter can end up in the Atlantic.

If it's on the street in Lafayette, it can get swept into a storm drain during a summer thunderstorm. It then travels to the coulees, then Bayou Vermilion. From there, it can get emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and eventually float out to the ocean. (Props here to Bayou Vermilion District for their daily river cleanups...I can't imagine how much litter would end up in the Gulf if it weren't for those guys!)

And it's understandable that you might want a straw for your drink - I have sensitive front teeth and can't handle iced drinks without a straw! If you do rely on having a straw, I recommend investing in a set of reusable straws that you can carry around with you. They are very inexpensive and easy to carry in your car or purse.

My husband and I visited one weekend recently for a lunch date and enjoyed our iced green teas without plastic straws. I had my reusable straw on hand, and my husband went completely straw-free.

The restaurant also says that most customers have applauded and embraced the switch. However, they will still provide plastic straws at the customer's request.

I know a few local restaurant owners, and I follow many locally owned restaurants on social media, so I'd like to challenge everyone - will you make the choice to give out straws only on demand in your restaurants? Can we help South Louisiana reduce its single-use straw trash?

As patrons, no matter where you go out to eat, order your drink specifically without a straw. My habit these days is to order "Water no straw, please." (It's not 100% successful in me not receiving a straw anyway, but I'm getting there!) The more often people request it, the more it may become habit for waitstaff to remember.

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Photo Friday | Skipping the Straw at Lunch

I almost feel like my own 2017 is turning into the Year of the Straw, but I suppose that's not a bad thing! Spending seven dollars on my set of reusable straws has absolutely been a good investment, and although not perfect, I've been able to save a lot of straws from the landfill or litter.

Today at lunch, I enjoyed using my reusable straw because the paper ones were available for those who want them - not given out automatically. This is definitely a benefit to restaurants where you can fix your own drink; they're the easiest place to transition to skipping straws.

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Reducing Waste When Making Groceries

As part of my involvement with Project Front Yard's Waste Free Day lunch challenge this week, I've been on my own journey of sorts to really demonstrate zero-waste efforts when it comes to grocery shopping.

So this weekend, I visited both the local farmer's market and my nearby grocery store to pick up groceries for this week (with a special focus on my lunch for Wednesday), and really paid attention to reducing waste.

How did I do? Well, I would give myself a B for my efforts and for what I brought home.

It's definitely a challenge to shop zero-waste, especially in an area not so accustomed to it, but once you get in the habit of knowing what to look for and where to shop, it will become much more feasible. The main challenge comes from packaging, so it's important to be mindful of what's necessary and what's not.

At the farmer's market, I shopped around to look for the best items with the least amount of packaging. I picked up some red leaf lettuce and a bunch of carrots that were packaging free, and I put them in my cloth produce bags.

I opted for some zucchini noodles from a woman who makes fresh pasta, and while they are prepackaged, I chose them because of the compostable cardboard container.

I picked up some fresh jalapeno cheddar sourdough bread, mainly because I can't pass up jalapeno cheddar flavored things. The bread was wrapped with plastic wrap, but it was impossible to find any bread not already wrapped. (However, if I could have incorporated cookies into my lunch, I could have purchased some and placed them in a cloth produce bag!)

Understandably, the ground beef I purchased was vacuum packed in plastic, but I'm not sure there is a better feasible alternative.

At each vendor, they would go to grab a plastic bag for my items, so I would politely say I didn't need one because I had my own cloth bag. There's something so fun about walking around the farmer's market carrying a cloth bag with carrot tops sticking out of them. (File under: Nerdy moments I relate to being in a chick flick. #basic)

Oh, and I had to pick up this flower, because look how adorable it is!

 

The grocery store is definitely a place where I need to brainstorm ways to minimize my waste. My husband and I tend to eat a lot of chicken, and the packaging at the store involves styrofoam trays and sealed plastic wrap, but I'm not yet sure what the alternative is.

This weekend, I tried a few new things by bringing a few very lightweight reusable plastic containers in, along with my standard cloth produce bags and shopping bags. I wanted to try to use my own containers at the deli counter, instead of getting my meat in plastic bags, but my containers weren't large enough.

I'll admit, I have yet to embrace bulk bins. It's definitely something I need to explore a bit more in Lafayette, just to see what's available. I'm very interested in trying out the bulk coffee beans. This weekend, I filled up one of my own containers with some dried veggie chips, and another with some dry roasted sunflowers seeds for the husband.

The containers I had were very lightweight, so I wasn't worried about paying extra for them. One idea I thought of is to simply reuse the plastic containers you get from prepackaged items or deli bar items at the grocery store. They're most likely not curbside recyclable, and they're clear and weightless.

In the regular grocery section, I wasn't quite waste-free, but I was mindful of anything overly packaged.

Shopping in the produce department is the easiest area to transition to zero-waste, and there are a few ways I did so this weekend:

• Going bagless for single items. There's no need to put one lemon in a plastic produce bag, or even a cloth one. I left my lemon, garlic and mango unbagged.
• Using cloth produce bags. I picked up three heads of broccoli, a bunch of asparagus, and a bell pepper, and bagged them with my cloth produce bags.
• Choosing recyclable packaging. My husband and I eat spinach pretty regularly, so on this trip, I weighed the options: bagged spinach or plastic carton spinach. The plastic carton is a #1 type of plastic, which means it can be recycled curbside - but the plastic bag cannot. So I went for the more recyclable option. It's still not the BEST option, but it's BETTER.

One note about the produce section: it's very easy to end up with a lot of unnecessary waste. Please, please avoid the produce needlessly wrapped in plastic or on a styrofoam tray.

You don't need shrink-wrapped cucumbers, or potatoes, or bell peppers in a plastic bag, or corn on the cob on a styrofoam tray and wrapped in plastic. There is nothing convenient about that!

This photo shows an easy to way to minimize waste: just pick three of your favorite bell peppers and leave them unbagged, and skip the plastic-wrapped ones. I do not understand the logic behind this at all!

Start your grocery trip by arriving prepared with:

• Cloth shopping bags
• Cloth produce bags
• Reusable containers for bulk or deli items
• If you use heavier items like reusable glass jars, weigh the container when it's empty and mark that weight on top, so the cashiers can deduct that from the overall food weight.
• Always check with your deli or meat counter to see if they will oblige using your containers. Food safety and sanitation laws may prevent it. 

I'm still a long ways from being zero-waste, but these habits are a huge step in the waste-free direction.

These are a few of my favorite zero-waste bloggers worth following:

• Kathryn at Going Zero Waste
• Megean at Zero Waste Nerd
• Karen at Sustainable Daisy recently blogged about her one-week zero-waste challenge
• Lauren at Trash Is For Tossers

Tomorrow morning, I'll be sharing the next phase of the zero-waste lunch challenge - how to actually pack a waste-free lunch!

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Photo Friday | Recycling Plastic Bags

In the spirit of the new year, I wrote a column this week for the local newspaper Times of Acadiana on how to recycle and donate when decluttering your home. (Read the column here!)

Next week here on the blog, I'll expand on the column and have a more comprehensive list of where you can donate just about any item in your home.

And for today's Photo Friday, we're tackling one of the most annoying items: the mountain of plastic bags that never seems to go away!

Many grocery and department stores have bins near the front door that are dedicated to collecting plastic bags for recycling. Simply bring your bags to the store, and drop them inside the bin before doing your shopping.

Offhand, in Lafayette, I know that Rouses, Albertson's and Target have bag recycling bins near their front entrances. In Abbeville, head to Robie's to drop off your bags.

My nearby grocery store participates in the Bag-2-Bag closed loop recycling program. The bags are processed and made into new plastic bags.

Graphic: Novolex

While I always stress the importance of reusing plastic bags if you have them in the first place, these recycling programs are the best way to do something responsible with ripped plastic bags.

Right around the beginning of the year, I sorted the plastic bags in our house and kept the intact bags for cat litter scooping and bathroom trashcan liners. Any torn or holey plastic bags went in my car to be dropped off at the grocery store, shown above.

So, with 30 minutes of effort (not counting the time it took me to drive to the store), I was able to declutter a bunch of torn plastic bags and send them off to be recycled!

Does your favorite store accept plastic bags for recycling? Let me know in the comments, and I'll be compiling a list and map of stores in Acadiana where you can recycle your plastic bags easily! (And where you can receive discounts for using cloth bags!)

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Photo Friday | Recycled American Flags

With today being Veterans Day, I think it's appropriate to share an amazing product I came across earlier this year on social media: American flags made with recycled plastic bottles.

RePatriot Flag is a company, started by veteran Sam Russo, that sells three sizes of American flags, all made with recycled polyester material called REPREVE. All of the flags are produced in the United States.

Photo: RePatriot Flag

On average, 15 plastic bottles are recycled into each US flag. To date, RePatriot Flag has produced more than 3,000 3’x5’ American flags, recycling nearly 30,000 plastic bottles that were collected from curbside bins.

How does the process work?

Graphic by RePatriot/REPREVE

Plastic water and soft drink bottles are made of PET, or polyethylene terephthalate. Over the years, REPREVE has fine-tuned a proprietary process that breaks the bottles down into flakes, then transforms PET bottle flakes into REPREVE fiber, which is then used in thousands of different fabrics and products available globally.

RePatriot works with REPREVE to turn the fiber into the base yarn for the flags. The yarn is woven into fabric, dyed red, white and blue, and manufactured into the US flag.

As REPREVE points out:

Did you know 6 recycled plastic bottles makes a shirt? Also, 50 recycled plastic bottles makes a fleece jacket. Every year, millions of plastic bottles are not recycled and end up in landfills that impact our environment. These bottles will sit there for hundreds of years, as they will not disintegrate. So next time, make the smart throw and toss your plastic bottles in the recycle bin, not the trash can, so they can be recycled into something more.

So although the common mentality is to throw something away when you're done with it, think about the life of that plastic bottle before you throw it out (or, shudder, litter it). Your items may no longer be useful to you, but they are very useful in some capacity.

Learn more:

• REPREVE
• RePatriot Flag
• Army Veteran Teams Up with REPREVE® to Bring American Flags Back to the United States (US Veterans Magazine)

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Taking Another Look at Excess Contact Lens Cases

Eye care is an important part of my daily routine, and it's one that can be greened in a few ways, without compromising health factors.

Last year I wrote about how you can donate and recycle old pairs of glasses. Today I'm looking more at contact lenses and how they can contribute to extra unnecessary waste.

I wear contact lenses every day, and I will never choose daily disposable lenses because of the amount of trash they create. I'm not sure what medical reason would require daily disposables over regular lenses, but to me, there's no reason to spend so much money on something you throw away every single day. According to this article from All About Vision, simply cleaning the same pair of contacts in solution each night is not 100% effective at removing the daily buildup. They also suggest that daily disposables are good for people who may not follow proper lens cleaning instructions.

Which leads into my next problem with contact lens care. I have monthly disposable lenses, which still creates waste, but not nearly as much. I remove my lenses every single night and clean them in solution. My eye health is very important, and I never sleep in my lenses. I have not personally had any issues with keeping my lenses in solution every night.

But when it comes time to resupply my solution, I run into another issue.

What the hell do I need all these cases for!? Frustratingly, every time I buy another bottle of solution, it comes with a "free lens case inside!"

Thanks to these companies, all this plastic is being used for these lens cases, and I'd bet a good many of them are tossed without even being used.

And not only am I racking up a tons of lens cases from the solution company, I get a new case every time I visit the eye doctor. It's at least possible there to request not to get a case in my goody bag.

What's the answer? It should be up to these companies who manufacture cases and solution to change how they package and sell products. Forget the 1-1 method of selling a bottle of solution with a free case every time. Sell the solution individually. Spare cases are already sold separately, which especially comes in handy when you're traveling and forgot to pack your regular one. Derp.

But cases don't need to automatically come with every bottle of solution. If you need another case, pick one up separately and inexpensively. If you don't need another case, then you don't end up with a huge pile of spares in your bathroom cabinet.

On a personal level, if you do have an overabundance of contact lens cases, offer them up to someone who might need them. When I first posed this issue on Instagram months back, it started a nice little conversation about different options. One friend said she's constantly losing hers and offered to take a few off my hands. So I cleaned up a few sets and mailed them off to her! Other friends had ideas on other ways to use the cases.

But...I don't NEED a free lens case every time I buy solution! #reduce #reuse

A photo posted by Caitlin (@ecocajun) on Sep 20, 2015 at 6:35pm CDT

If you're traveling, the cases are great for holding small amounts of liquid or gel makeup/hair products that can fit into your carry-on 3-1-1 bag. They can help organize small beads for jewelry making, or hold paint during a craft project.

The Preserve Gimme 5 program collects #5 plastics, which many contact lens cases are made from, and recycles it into new products. According to Recycle Scene, you can mail in your materials if there's no collection nearby. (Spoiler alert: There's no collection spot within 50 miles of Lafayette. Shocking!)

1-800-CONTACTS has a list of 24 ways to reuse cases, but some of these are a little far-reaching. Come on, contact lens solutions companies...don't make us resort to using contact lens case lids as poker chips or Christmas ornaments. If that's how far we have to stretch to find a reuse, then there are TOO MANY cases in this world!

So, let's work on reducing, shall we?

Reduce: If you have the option, don't accept another spare lens case. And companies, please stop including a case with every bottle of solution.

Reuse: Find other places around the house that you can use cases to organize small amounts of items.

Recycle: Donate your cases to someone else, or find a recycling program that accepts the cases. Depending on your community, they may not be accepted in your curbside recycling program.

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Reusable IS Instagrammable!

It's no surprise that I enjoy flipping through my Instagram feed, admiring the shots other bloggers and awesome people share with their followers. I'm always a fan of picturesque photos, styled vignettes and behind-the-scenes peeks.

But lately, something has started to stick out more while I'm scrolling: so many single-use cups in otherwise gorgeous photos, whether Instagram or Snapchat or Facebook or wherever. I don't intend to be negative or call anyone out, but I can't "like" it, and it's made me want to shout even louder:

Let's focus on reusable!

Instead of showing off a cappuccino or fruity drink in a foam cup or a matcha latte in a plastic cup with a lid and straw, I would love to see more reusable cups or mugs. Be healthy, stylish and caffeinated while also caring for the environment. To me, that's the real beauty!

It's a relatively small and easy change to make: Simply stock up on a few reusable bottles or mugs that show off your personality. 

The harder part is getting in the habit of bringing it everywhere with you. But within a few weeks, you'll be used to it! Keep one for coffee or tea and one for water, to start with.

Most service employees will oblige your request to use your own container. Starbucks, CC's Coffeehouse, Johnston Street Java, The Lab, Reve Coffee Roasters, and many other local spots (no matter where is 'local' to you) accept your own mug. (However, I tend not to use the drive-thru when I do stop and have my own mug, so I'm not sure what their standard procedures are in that case.)

When I started going through my older Instagram photos to find ones to feature in this post, I managed to find almost 20, most from the past few months. It's even more apparent now that my bottles are a reliable accessory. And they don't take away from the scenery or the taste of whatever drink they're holding in the photo.

Over the years and to my memory, my (many) bottles have held: water, infused water, hot coffee, iced coffee, hot tea, iced tea, margarita, beer, wine, sports drinks, lemonade, soft drinks and hot chocolate.

How have they integrated into my Instagrams?

I take them on vacation! I saved a ton of plastic by bringing my Klean Kanteen to Hawaii. It saw just as much of Oahu as I did! Willa Jean in New Orleans poured my iced coffee in my Kanteen twice in two days. And you always need to hydrate when you're out in the sun.

OOTD? Yeah, your reusable bottle or mug can be part of it! By picking out bottles that match your style, you're more likely to use it and show it off. At the end of this post, I have a short list of different brands you can shop from.

For Lafayette's weekly mini-festival Downtown Alive, you previously could not actually bring your own bottle for beer, but they introduced a branded reusable cup that was the approved size for beer they serve. I've used my cup for three DTA seasons now, helping to eliminate the amount of litter in downtown Lafayette.

 

Bring your own to work meetings or functions. Former Mayor-President Joey Durel and I had our coffee mugs present and skipped the available disposable options for a 705 morning coffee function late last year. Setting an example!

One of the most important places to make the switch to reusable is at work. Don't go for the stacks of styrofoam cups! Almost two years into my job, I've probably gotten fewer than 10 styrofoam coffee cups, and I don't remember how long ago I got the last one. By keeping a few regular mugs at my desk, I can pour some of the office coffee without being wasteful. And lately, my fiance and I have been making our coffee at home, so my Kanteens have been on heavy commute and desk rotation. (Behind the scenes note, there are usually three more cups all over my desk on any given day!)

 

 

Coffee at home might seem logical in a ceramic mug, but I still can't get over the fact that to-go cups are sold for home use, and that people do use them while staying at home to drink coffee. (Paper plates at home are another rant.)

Using my water bottle while at a restaurant helped me save a disposable cup and drink extra water for my health.

Ah, the gym. The second biggest place to eliminate single use. My gym supplies stacks upon stacks of styrofoam cups, along with straws and lids for patrons, and I avoid those and the plastic water bottles like the plague. (I'm fighting to change their styrofoam dependency.) I've had many reusable bottles on rotation for my yoga and cardio sessions. I can't even fathom how many bottles I've saved over the years.

Ready to invest in your own Instagrammable accessory? Check out these brands and choose your style. The stainless steel options are food grade and BPA-free.

• Klean Kanteen
• Swell
• Live Vessel (and read Sustainably Chic's review of these beauties!)
• Life Factory (made of glass, if you notice or can't stand the taste of a stainless steel bottle.)
• Mira
• Contigo 
• Nalgene (although not my favorite because they are still plastic, they are BPA-free. And the one I have holds half of my daily water goal.)

A reusable bottle or mug isn't just for "green" bloggers or influencers, it should be for all bloggers and Instagrammers. Let's turn single-use style into reusable style. Swap out the plastic for stainless, and share your photos using #ReusableIsInstagrammable!

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Bottle That, Bottle That, Tap That, Tap That

A fulfilling Monday evening, in your eyes, might not be focused around a screening of Tapped, a 2009 documentary about the big business and danger of bottled water. But when you're me, you hit "Interested" on that Facebook event invite from Bayou Vermilion District and make plans to go.

I started seriously cutting down on my bottled water usage back in 2008, when I ordered my first Klean Kanteen to carry to work and the gym. But I still used bottled water at times, whether I would forget to bring my own to the gym, or I was out somewhere with no bottle and needed water. The habit of bringing my own is much stronger these days, from the gym, to the office, to Festival International, to road trips and vacations.

And after viewing Tapped, the priority is much higher to eliminate the use of bottled water completely. I've already eliminated soft drinks from my diet, save for an occasional moment of weakness, but even then, I try to go for cans.

Some of the documentary's points that stuck out for me are not new information, but rather a reinforcement.

• 40% of bottled water is simply filtered tap water. (Hint, you can filter your own tap water.)
• City tap water is generally more strictly regulated than bottled water. The EPA regulates public tap water, while the FDA regulates bottled water. However, water bottled and sold within the state it was drawn from is not required to meet FDA regulations.
• Water bottles left in hot areas can leach toxins from the plastic into the water.
• Although water bottles are recyclable, the United States lags behind other countries in actual recycling rates. Many are simply thrown away or littered.

So, think about it: by buying a $1.50 bottle of water (give or take; a gas station might charge $.79 for a cheap brand, while a sports arena or music festival might charge $4), you are paying for a petroleum-based plastic bottle filled with water that is less regulated than city tap water, and more than likely sending a single-use product to the landfill over the recycling center. Assuming it's not purposefully or accidentally littered first.

Think paying around $20 for a reusable water bottle is ridiculous? Hold your horses. That can buy you a good quality, food-grade stainless steel bottle that holds the same amount as a standard plastic bottle. 20 ounces.

The money you save in not buying plastic bottles quickly pays for that reusable bottle. Even if you buy cases of cheap water (say 24 bottles for $3), after seven cases, you would equal the reusable water bottle. That's 168 plastic bottles. And it probably wouldn't take long for a family to go through seven cases. Invest in a reusable bottle for each family member and use them over and over again.

If I used my first Klean Kanteen once a week for seven and a half years, that's 390 water bottles I've avoided. And that's only one time a week. I use a reusable water bottle between one and three times every DAY. Even in the past one year, that's almost 1,000 water bottles I've saved.

And by the way, I do still have my first Klean Kanteen after seven and a half years, and I do still use it. It's a little dented, but it still works. It's served its purpose hundreds of times, along with my other reusable bottles. Is a plastic water bottle even designed for that kind of life? Nope. They're simply built to use once and throw away. How irresponsible.

After the viewing, Bayou Vermilion District held a discussion about how we can work to cut down bottled water usage in Lafayette, especially since they're the group responsible for picking tons of water bottles out of the Vermilion River. (Side shoutout to the Teche Project who does the same in Bayou Teche!)

Some of my main ideas are not inherently difficult to implement:

• Install more public and business water fountains, providing the same convenience people want from carrying bottled water. This would be especially helpful downtown and at Girard Park and the Horse Farm, where there are routinely large crowds. Lead by example. One drawback to saying no to bottled water and carrying your own is, what do you do once you've run out? Let's have spots where you can easily refill.
• At events where there are beer trucks, sell water in the same manner. From a tap. Be okay with filling someone's own bottle up.

It is so important to change that culture of convenience, the one that causes people to be so obsessed with bottled water. It's more work and more dangerous than it is convenient.
If you want to take one step to be greener, this is such an easy one. This is all you need to say no to water in a plastic bottle.

Get more information about Tapped.

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Behind the Recycling Labels on Plastics

With plastic being one of the most ubiquitous materials on the planet, found in so many items, and eventually the most littered, it should be easy to see why recycling it is so important.

But there are restrictions on the kinds of plastic that can be recycled through your city, and each city has different guidelines. And they're based on the numbers printed inside the recycling symbol.

Let's take a refresher course on what each number means! Typically, the lower the number, the more widespread the recyclability. Back in the 90s, it was not common to be able to recycle a #7, but now most are accepted.

The big exception is styrofoam. Although it may be labeled a #5 or #6, it is not accepted in curbside pickup, because fewer facilities actually recycle the material. (Eco Cajun PSA: Skip the styrofoam!)

The last edition of Lafayette's PRIDE Guide clarifies that Lafayette accepts containers with numbers 1 through 7 inside of the triangular shaped recycling symbol. Rinse plastics before putting in the cart. Examples include food and drink containers, bleach and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, soft drink and water bottles. NO PLASTIC BAGS (even those with the recycling symbol), Styrofoam, plastic packaging or plastic wrap, six-pack rings, or petroleum product bottles (motor oil, brake fluid, etc.)

#1 plastics are made with PET or PETE, (polyethylene terephthalate) and are found in most household plastics, like:

• Soft drink and water bottles
• Peanut butter jars
• Mouthwash bottles
• Salad dressing and condiment bottles
• Frozen food trays

These plastics are widely accepted in recycling programs. Take any lids or caps off and rinse the bottles first. Lids and caps are not recyclable.

In addition to being recycled for another generation of plastic container, this kind of plastic can be recycled into fabric for umbrellas, bags or even t-shirts (super soft ones at that)!

#2 plastics contain high-density polyethylene (HDPE). You'll find this number on items like:

• Milk jugs
• Large juice bottles
• Bleach and household cleaner bottles
• Shampoo bottles
• Some trash and plastic bags
• Yogurt containers
• Cereal box liners

These items are generally accepted in curbside recycling programs, but remember to take any lids or caps off. And in Lafayette, plastic bags are NOT accepted in any recycling bin. (Reuse or recycle them separately; see this old Eco Cajun post for more details.)

HDPE can be recycled into new containers, pens, floor tile, drainage pipe, benches (I'll have a post soon featuring Project Front Yards bags-to-benches school project!), picnic tables and fencing.

#3 plastics include vinyl and polyvinyl chloride (your favorite PVC). A strong material for outdoor uses, it can be found in:

• Cooking oil bottles
• Clear food packaging
• Medical equipment
• Home siding
• Windows

#3 plastics are accepted in Lafayette's curbside bins, but make sure containers are rinsed well. PVC is not widely recycled, but if it is, it can be used in decks, paneling, cables, speed bumps or mats. And a safety note, because PVC contains chlorine, it's harmful to cook with and dangerous to burn.

#4 plastics are low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and are found in:

• Squeeze bottles
• Bread, frozen food, dry cleaning and shopping bags
• Clothing
• Furniture
• Carpet

Again, plastic bags are not accepted for recycling curbside, so bring them to a dedicated collection bin, or reuse them around the house. Lafayette does accept #4 plastics curbside. LDPE can be recycled into trash can liners, compost bins, shipping envelopes, lumber or floor tile.

#5 plastics are made of polypropylene and can withstand very high temperatures. They can be found in:

• Some yogurt containers
• Syrup bottles
• Medicine bottles
• Bottle caps
• Straws
• Plastic lunch meat containers

Obviously, straws don't have recycling numbers on them, but they can be recycled. And always rinse containers first. Recycled polypropylene can become signal lights, battery cables, landscape borders, bicycle racks, pallets and trays.

Ah, #6 plastics, also known as polystyrene. You can find it in:

• Disposable cups and plates
• Meat trays at the grocery store
• Egg cartons
• Restaurant to-go containers
• CD jewel cases
• Aspirin bottles

Aspirin bottles can be recycled curbside, but CD jewel cases are less likely to be accepted. Other typical "foam" products are not recyclable curbside, even though they are labeled. Earth911 shares how expanded polystyrene can be recycled or reused.

Recycled polystyrene is used to make the same items it was before.

Saving the best for last, #7 plastics are "miscellaneous" that don't fit into the other six categories.

• Polyactide is a plastic made from plant materials and is compostable. 
• Polycarbonate is a hard plastic that can leach toxic materials, and it's found in eyeglass lenses, outdoor yard signs and many electronic components.

Some cities accept #7 plastics curbside if it's labeled.

If you have any doubts that your city accepts an item through the curbside bin, call your city government to ask!


Most information comes from Good Housekeeping.
Find more information on the plastic number codes from Webstaurant Store.

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