How to Recycle #5 Plastic
How to Recycle #5 Plastic
(Article updated 9/3/2021)
Update: It has come to my attention that Preserve is no longer taking #5 plastic through the drop-off bins at Whole Foods or the Gimme 5 mail-in program. Please visit this new article for an update on the current state of #5 plastic recycling.
The Challenges of Plastic Recycling
If you have been paying attention, you know that it has become so freakin’ difficult and confusing to recycle plastic! That’s because in 2018, China, which is the primary market for recycled materials from the United States, issued much stricter rules for what they will and will not accept. (Apparently they were getting tired of getting giant tankers full of random, food-caked American junk that they had to painstakingly sort through to find the small percentage of usable stuff.)
What this means for us is that if we throw something into our bin that we HOPE is recyclable, but is not, or is not clean enough (hello greasy pizza boxes and half-full containers of peanut butter), we can be contaminating an entire batch of recycling that will end up having to be sent to the landfill.
The Current State of Plastic Recycling
So where does this leave us when it comes to plastic recycling? Well, in my city, that means that the only plastic accepted now in our curbside bins is plastic bottles and jugs. Basically anything with a neck. No more butter tubs, yogurt containers, takeout containers, plastic plant pots, etc. This is a serious bummer.
Things may be different in your city or county though, so be sure to check. Some of the communities surrounding me have recently started accepting plastic tubs again (just not mine unfortunately).
So What Can I Do With #5 Plastic?
If your community is like mine and doesn’t accept #5 plastic, then unfortunately, your options are limited. There is a program called “Gimme 5” which is run by a company called Preserve. They take #5 plastic and recycle it into new products like toothbrushes, dishware and food storage containers. They used to accept #5 plastic in drop-off bins at Whole Foods but this has been discontinued (see my update above).
They are were allowing you to mail your #5 plastics to Preserve, and you would have to pay the shipping cost yourself. They were also taking #5 plastic bottle caps and #5 prescription bottles. Be sure to read their FAQ for current instructions. They are currently on hold indefinitely.
FYI, some pill bottles are more recyclable than others, and some types you may be able to throw in with your regular recycling, see this article on pill bottle recycling.
Terracycle also has programs for a variety of plastics like bottle caps, plastic tubs and so on, but the way their program works is that you buy a collection box and send back once it is full. The boxes are fairly expensive, so this probably only makes sense if you run a business that would benefit enough from using recycling drop-off programs as a draw to bring people in.
Aside from that, your best bet is to try to avoid getting this type of plastic whenever you can. Have you discovered any places that will take #5 plastic for recycling? Please let me know!
Here is Preserve’s 9/19 statement on why they’re discontinuing the Gimme 5 program:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2372/0029/files/Preserve_Gimme_5_Statement_9-2019.pdf?215
Thanks for this. I did see that, but I don’t really understand this statement: “In the present day, more than 60% of American households have access to #5 recycling and now many of the items that might have only had a home in the Gimme 5 program, such as yogurt cups, can now be recycled locally.”
Really? I feel like this is outdated. Once China stopped taking our recyclables a couple years ago, I thought most communities stopped taking #5 plastic. Mine did.
Thanks for this post. My local municipal facility only takes #1 and #2 as well. And I think they are even stricter and limit it to #1 and #2 beverage containers only. We live in the Pacific NW/Seattle-ish region. For awhile, we were using a company called Terra Cycle out of New Jersey. It’s a pay-for service that is pretty expensive. But, it reduced our landfill trash by about 70%. Unfortunately the Pandemic has shrunk our budget, and we can longer afford TerraCycle. But maybe some of your readers can.
Hi there, yes, I plan on doing an article about TerraCycle at some point. They do have a lot of options for recycling stuff, but as you said, it’s pretty expensive and seems like it’s mainly a good option for businesses that generate or sell a bunch of a particular type of packaging and want to provide an incentive for people to return and recycle with them. I really wish that Whole Foods hadn’t stopped taking #5, because it was so convenient.
This is particularly aggravating given the main source of #5 in my house is something we very much cannot do without: the bottles prescription medication comes in. I’ll have to either find a new place or suck it up and pay the shipping fee.
Yeah, it’s really frustrating that no one will take this plastic and the manufacturers won’t switch to something that is more recyclable. I did write an article specifically about pill bottles, but they have the same issue, the only way to recycle is to mail them. https://greenandgrumpy.com/can-i-recycle-plastic-pill-bottles/
I am troubled as the rest of you are about Number 5’s generally, but, like Olivia, am particularly troubled about pill containers. Can’t we pressure the pharmacies to recycle them? Has anyone tried? Thanks, Ruth
That’s a good idea. We could start an online petition if anyone else is interested. If I get a few comments in response to this, I’ll create one and post it on the Green and Grumpy Facebook page to share.
You can actually recycle Pill and medicine plastic bottles to Mathew 25 ministries…seems they take and need them…
https://m25m.org/pillbottles/
You are correct, and I even did an article about pill bottle recycling, but I should have also mentioned it in this article. I will add it now, thanks for reminding me!
Now the Preserve program no longer accepts mail in plastics.
Mail-In
Please note that as of November 27, 2020, we had to pause our Gimme 5 mail in program due to logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We thank you for not making any Gimme 5 shipments for now. Our hope is to reopen the program by September 1, 2021. We will provide an update by July 1, 2021 on whether we will be able to meet this target. Thank you for your understanding!
Thanks for the update.
In the early part of this year our local recycler, Rumpke added some #5, for the first time. Yogurt, cottage cheese containers then gradually butter tubs, cool whip, jello & fruit cups even Mac & cheese cups. Flimsy items. They do not accept pill bottles. For your curbside #5 to end last year when did it start?? Matthew 25: is mail order – find local churches u can drop them off at, some will remove label adhesive residue. Must have caps. We have 3-4 nearby and this is a smallish city. Goes to Doctors w/o Borders. Pill bottles may not be curbside collected due the size, things smaller than your fist get stuck in machinery.
Hi Carl, thanks for this. In my community we used to be able to recycle #5 plastic back before China put the ban on taking most US recyclables, then it was restricted to bottles and jugs only.
I am afraid you never were recycling #5 polypropylene plastics, in the sense that it wasn’t being reused even when your local program accepted it. Your local community might have been accepting it in their bins, but what you thought was recycling was effectively just sending it to be put in Chinese landfills instead of local landfills. The basic problem is that fresh, virgin polypropylene is so inexpensive that it’s not economically viable go through the process of collecting, sorting and particularly, cleaning it for reuse.
James Recycling will take #5
https://jshrecycling.com/what-we-take/