This gesture is so easy to set up yet tackles some pesky plastics which often fly under the radar -small hard plastics.
What might these be? These can include items such as bread tags, soy sauce fish, plastic bottle caps from tetra pak drink cartons, small plastic pieces from a clothing swing tag and much more. These small items are often the same type of plastic as plastic containers and bottles (Triangle 1, PETE and 2, HDPE) but are so small that if they aren’t contained can fall through to the landfill pile if left loose in your recycling bin. When placed in another container (eg. a yoghurt container) or larger plastic vessel (like a plastic milk bottle) small hard plastics can be processed with the container they are sent to the recycling plant in. There are also some innovative programs which offer recycling for bread tags and plastic bottle caps.
Time to get down to the details and sort these plastics out!
Action steps:
1. Place a small container or box under your sink dedicated to small hard plastics
2. Make yourself a list of small hard plastics you know you will come across in your home (you can start with the list above)
3. Pin this up near the container, and, when your container or box is full, put the small pieces in a larger plastic container with the lid on (such as an empty yoghurt container or bottle) and send the small hard plastics off in the mixed recycling.
Note: Always keep an eye out for ways you can avoid having them in your home at all. We recommend avoiding small hard plastics where possible: Buying bread without a bread tag, taking your own soy sauce or using the bottle at the sushi bar, rethinking the vessel you buy milk in, and more!
