Plastic, that pollutant we live with every day and the one that causes so much harm to natural ecosystems, mainly aquatic ones. We find it as containers and wrappers for almost anything we buy, such as food or products of enormous variety. In one way or another, plastic surrounds us on a daily basis, but not just us.
Unfortunately, plastic waste takes approximately 500 years to disappear from natural ecosystems, which makes it highly polluting materials. To try to reduce the impact of plastic on the planet and the damage it causes to nature and all the living beings that inhabit it, from Ecologist Verde we want to send you some advice on how to recycle plastic at home. All the steps are very simple and even fun. It will not cost you anything to follow them and you will help the planet a lot. Cheer up!
The plastic goes to the yellow container
Nowadays, recycle plastic packaging, like the rest of the scraps, it is much simpler than some people think. There are containers differentiated by colors that help us take this step. In this particular case, the yellow container for plastic recycling, from where the garbage truck will collect the waste to transport it to a specialized recycling center.
In that place, the garbage is classified according to the type of material it is. After the process that is carried out to reuse these materials, this "garbage" becomes raw material again. Thus, by separating the plastic from the rest of the garbage by containers, we allow to give the products a second chance and help nature to avoid contamination by said material.
General containers should be thrown into the yellow container, such as:
- Plastic bags.
- Plastic bottles and cups.
- Bricks, such as milk or juice bricks.
- Bubble wrap.
- Nets used to contain fruit.
- Cans, jars and their lids.
- Film paper and silver.
- Sprays and roll-on.
- Polystyrene or white cork trays.
- Other packaging or packaging, such as yogurt or toothpaste containers.
It is very important to avoid depositing other products in this container, such as glass containers or cardboard boxes, and you should always try dispose of containers as clean and completely empty as possible.
How to recycle plastic at home - the best ways
Despite the fact that occupying a space at home with one more garbage can can be annoying for some people, this act is essential to protect the health of ecosystems, and even ours, since everything that is dumped in nature it indirectly reaches us in one way or another (feeding, breathing, etc.).
There are many products that should be discarded in the yellow container and they are not exactly the least polluting and least used products in our day to day life. Therefore, it is essential that we find a space to include a cube in which we allocate this type of product for later. discard them in the yellow container. It would be ideal to place it in the kitchen together with the general waste trash can, but as this is not always possible given the space we have in the kitchen, here we offer you some ideas for managing plastic recycling at home:
- Recycling garbage cans with buckets: First of all, we can try to buy a garbage can with buckets to recycle our waste. In many stores they offer bins of reduced sizes and divided into two parts (general waste and plastics) to help us recycle in our kitchen. In addition, if you are really aware of the environment you can also buy bins with 3 or more compartments to recycle all kinds of waste.
- Locate the plastic waste bin somewhere else in the house: If the kitchen does not have enough space to have a general waste bin and a plastic bin, we can place a bin in any other place in the house, such as the laundry room or the terrace. No matter where you place it, it will not give off bad odors, since, as it is not organic waste, it will not rot.
- Swap the bucket for a plain bag: If the other two options still do not suit your needs, you can always hang a bag from a doorknob and gradually introduce the plastic waste. It is not very aesthetic, but think that you are taking a very respectful and necessary action to collaborate with the care of the environment.
- Household plastic shredder: Another highly recommended option is to buy domestic plastic shredders with which we can save space in our garbage to continue storing plastic, since, otherwise, being products that normally take up a lot of space, but no longer contain anything, the garbage will fill up right away. These machines literally shred the plastic making it barely take up space. Of course, before using it we must inform ourselves well about which plastics can or cannot be recycled.
In addition, there are more ideas that we will explain better in the following lines.
Apply the 3RRR at home to curb the impact of plastic on the environment
Although the aforementioned steps help us avoid the impact of this pollutant on the environment, an unavoidable impact on nature always persists. Therefore, it is very important to follow the complete process of 3R or RRR to curb plastic pollution.
- Reduce: You can help reduce plastic consumption by avoiding unnecessary use of plastics or by choosing to buy products with packaging made of biodegradable materials, such as paper bags and even made from algae or other vegetables.
- Re-use: always reuse these packaging as much as possible. For example, choose to bring your own reusable bag shopping and avoid using new bags that will eventually end up in the trash.
- Recycle: when the use of plastic has come to an end, we can only choose to recycle it to avoid as much as possible the impact on nature.
In this other Green Ecologist article we show you some Tips to reduce the use of plastics and packaging.
Ideas to recycle plastic at home with crafts
Reuse plastic at home It can be a lot of fun if we put our minds to it. Here are some ideas to give a second life to those plastic containers. Very educational and fun activities for young and old.
Do crafts with plastic bottles to recycle at home It is one of the most fun activities and with the most diversity of possibilities, so we leave you these ideas:
- Ideas for recycling plastic bottles.
- How to make ecological bricks with plastic bottles.
- Ideas for recycling bottle caps.
Do you want to collaborate even more with nature and have your own orchard or garden? Follow these other Ideas to make vertical gardens with plastic bottles. Also, keep in mind that not only plastic bottles are useful to have a great time while helping the environment, the bags can also have a second use. Discover several Ideas to recycle plastic bags here.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to recycle plastic at home, we recommend that you enter our Recycling and waste management category.
