Recycling at the Co-op
Co-op members have asked, and we are responding! We are pleased to announce that you can now bring your clean and dry number 5 plastics, including Brita filters and all Preserve products, to the Hanover and Lebanon Service Desks any time you wish.
Gimme 5 Recycling at the Service Desks
The Co-op will happily recycle your clean and dry #5 plastic items for you. Bring your #5 plastics to the Service Desk at either the Hanover or Lebanon Food Store any day of the week. Items must be completely clean and completely dry. We reserve the right to refuse dirty or wet containers and cannot accept drop-offs in White River Junction or at the Co-op Community Market, due to space restrictions.
Bring Us Your Number Fives
Our number five recycling is through a unique program offered by Preserve. Look for rigid containers and lids marked with the #5 recycling symbol. Brita filters and all Preserve products also accepted. Material will be used to manufacture new products right here in the Northeast. Check out the Preserve products in our stores from your #5s!
What Can Be Recycled?
For a full list of items that can be recycled, check here. Items must be completely clean and completely dry. We reserve the right to refuse dirty or wet containers and will not accept drop-offs at either the White River Junction Food Store or the Co-op Community Market, due to space restrictions.
Why Gimme 5?
Ever wondered why the Co-op offers Gimme 5 recycling when many shoppers have access to #1-7 plastic recycling through Northeast Waste’s “Zero Sort” program? It’s a good question!
Gimme 5 is a unique recycling program that is sponsored by Preserve Products in Waltham, MA, and is offered to consumers and select retailers. Preserve uses material collected through Gimme 5 to manufacture its 100% recycled-content products, many of which we carry at the Co-op. In the last two years, Preserve has collected more material than it needs for its own products, and as a result the company has been working with other brands and manufacturers to integrate recycled content into additional products.
Northeast Waste, which is owned by Casella, trucks zero-sort material to New England facilities where #1 plastics are separated from #2 plastics. Plastics that are numbered 3-7 are baled together and shipped to Asian buyers. Casella does not know what happens to the #5 plastic in those bales.
Preserve is unique in its efforts to build a domestic market for recycled #5 plastic. If the market were to grow, Casella would have a reason to create bales of #5-only plastic and be able to sell to domestic buyers. When that happens, the Co-op would gladly cease the Gimme 5 program!
Learn More
For more information, please contact Michelle Jordan at (603) 640-6323 or email her.
Other Co-op Recycling Programs
Wine Cork Recycling
Once in a while, a customer will ask if the Co-op recycles wine corks. Excellent question! And indeed we do. Customers will find self-serve collection bins in the wine departments of the Hanover and Lebanon stores. The program we are participating in is called ReCork. Learn more here.
