Let’s talk hard-to-recycle plastics
What do you know about hard-to-recycle plastics? Read more to learn what makes these plastics hard to recycle, Ridwell’s approach to tackling the challenge, and the role our members play in making it all possible.
What are they and what makes them hard to recycle?
Hard-to-recycle plastics are those that generally cannot go in curbside recycling and are challenging for recyclers to collect, process, and manage. Not to be confused with the plastic film that Ridwell collects as a core category, which includes grocery bags, Amazon plastic mailers, Ziploc bags, and plastic packaging for paper towels and toilet paper. Common hard-to-recycle plastics include plastics #3-#7 or as you may have seen them around the house: bread tags, prescription pill bottles, loose plastic bottle caps, and more.
So what’s the tricky part? Hard-to-recycle plastics are called that because… well, they are hard to recycle! Finding organizations who take post-consumer plastic – aka the plastic you’ve used at home – who can reuse them in their original form or turn them into a new item is a big, hairy supply-and-demand matching challenge. Used household plastics generally aren’t uniform in shape, size, color, cleanliness or even material – like your plastic lotion or soap pump handle lids that have metal lining on the inside – which makes separating and processing them en masse into new plastic items challenging. Plus, collecting them in a large enough quantity with consistency (to make the effort of recycling them worthwhile) takes a village – or Ridwell community! It’s a tough task but we’re up to the challenge.
Why do we care?
Sadly, far too much plastic ends up in landfills, either because it’s thrown away or put in the recycling bin with the best of intentions but no scalable solution. The items get mixed into a large pile and are hard to mass identify, separate, and clean for individual recycling production streams. Solving the problem of plastic waste requires action by many - individual households, community leaders, policymakers, recycling companies, and experts and advocates. At Ridwell, we’re doing our part to help tackle the challenge by empowering community members to collect (not waste) plastic items, which we then pickup and deliver to our partners to help reuse in their original form or recycle for a second life. Our goal: do our part to help keep plastic out of landfills.
How do we help tackle the hard-to-recycle challenge?
As excited as we are about helping you keep more plastic out of the garbage, we're even more pumped about its second life. We work tirelessly to find and partner with local and national organizations that provide positive alternatives to throwing away these hard-to-recycle plastics.
First, we see if the items can be reused. For example, we send bread tags back to the R&D department of Kwik Lok (the makers of… bread tags!) so they don’t need to create new ones for research purposes. We also send bread tags to local elementary schools that use them for counting exercises and other education programs.
When we’ve exhausted direct reuse options, we responsibly recycle.
We work with a variety of partners to recycle these hard-to-recycle plastics and give them a second life – transforming them into plastic pellets for product filler (like teddy bear tummies, OMG we know!), warehouse pallets, or planter pots. Transforming old plastic into new means less new plastic is created!
How can you help?!
Reuse at home where possible - A prescription pill bottle is the perfect for travel-sized goods, and bread tags and bottle caps are awesome for a kiddo's imagination and creativity.
Be mindful of purchases - The most effective way to stop the cycle of plastics is to be a mindful purchaser. For example, bulk bin buys can save money and plastic - bring that bread tag with you to close the bag while you are at it.
Prep and Ridwell your stuff - Wash and empty the plastics. Remove all labels. ONLY send eligible items (i.e no OTC pill bottles, no pump-handle bottle caps).
Let us know of reuse opportunities in your community - if you know of an artisan, school, or other organization that uses recycled goods, reach out to us at help@ridwell.com so we can connect with them!
Invite friends - The more households using Ridwell in your neighborhood, the more steady demand we have for recycling these plastics, the more consistently our partners can expect and receive items from us to responsibly recycle and reuse.
Questions about any of this? Email our team at help@ridwell.com.
Tackling hard-to-recycle plastics together
You and your community help make this all possible. Spread the word, help grow impact, and keep hard-to-recycle plastics flowing from your homes, to Ridwell bins, to responsible partners and into their second lives.
Looking for a bit more info on hard-to-recycle plastic featured categories we collect in specific markets? Learn more about prescription pill bottles, loose plastic bottle caps, and bread tags.