Whether a part of your morning routine, or an afternoon snack, many of us enjoy a yogurt from time to time. But when you’re finished what do you do with the empty plastic container? I always waiver between the commingling recycling bin or the trash. I never truly knew whether my community would and could recycle #5 plastic (polypropylene), which is what those yogurt containers and other plastics like containers for hummus or cottage cheese are made of. We’ve known for awhile that plastic bottles for drinks are recyclable, but usually curb-side recycling will not take #5 plastics. So what to do with them?

Preserve, a company that designs and manufactures 100% recycled goods has partnered with Organic Valley and Stonyfield to start a program called “Gimme 5“. You can drop off your #5 containers at many Whole Foods locations – look for bins usually near the entrance or exit – or if you don’t have access to Whole Foods, simply ship the plastics to Preserve. Preserve then recycles these plastics into household goods from toothbrushes to razors to food storage containers. Many of these products come in bright colors, and are sleek and as user-friendly as anything else on the market (if not better!).

If the idea of bringing your plastic containers back to a Whole Foods seems like more effort than you’re willing to make, consider the environmental savings that result from recycling polypropylene instead of manufacturing it. Preserve plastics require at least 75% less oil, 54% less water, 48% less coal and 46% less electricity than virgin polypropylene. These figures were derived using average data for the U.S. using the Life Cycle Assessment, which compares the environmental impact of the entire process from beginning to end. As we use up the global supply of finite natural resources, we need to find ways to wean ourselves off of coal and oil. Preserve is making this shift, and enabling us to divert more and more waste out of our landfills and back into our homes as new products.