Ellwood Thompson’s Blog

You are probably aware that Richmond recycles only #1`and #2 plastics. Stonyfield Farm uses #5 (polypropylene) plastic packaging for their yogurt cups. An explanation of their choice in packaging materials is offered on their website:

“As a result of the Tellus Study, we decided to convert our yogurt packaging to the lightest weight plastic that would protect our product. Despite not being recyclable in most communities, we moved to polypropylene plastic. In using polypropylene (#5) packaging, Stonyfield uses significantly less plastic than we would if we made our cups with HDPE #2 plastic. One of the most beneficial characteristics of #5 plastic is that its structure allows the container to be made of thinner walls, while maintaining the same structural integrity. Our quart containers are over 30% lighter today than they were 10 years ago. By using #5 plastic instead of #2, each year we prevent the manufacture and disposal of over 100 tons of plastic, resulting in environmental savings from the decreased air emissions and resource depletion from the manufacture and distribution of the packaging. In addition, the polypropylene is manufactured without the use of chlorine, thus eliminating the hazards of deadly dioxin releases during manufacture and incineration, which occur with certain other plastics.

Still, many of our customers have requested that we use HDPE (#2) plastic because it’s the only yogurt container recycled in their community. Unfortunately, although many communities accept #2 plastic for recycling, in most cases, the #2 wide mouth containers are actually recycling bottles only. Bottles and wide-mouth containers such as yogurt containers have different melting points, thus rendering them undesirable for recycling together. Many communities accept all HDPE plastics to avoid consumer confusion, then they landfill or incinerate all but the bottles. The 1997 national recycling rate for HDPE bottles was over 24%, but less than 2 % of wide-mouthed HDPE plastic (such as yogurt cups) was recycled-equal to the rate of recycling for wide-mouthed polypropylene packaging. (R.W. Beck 1997 National Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling Rate Study).”

Stonyfield Farm has teamed up with Recycline, manufacturers of environmentally friendly personal hygiene product line Preserve® ,who use recycled Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups to comprise up to 65% of their items such as toothbrushes and disposable razors. What’s more, you can send used Recycline products back to the company to be recycled into plastic lumber. Learn more about the complete family of Preserve® personal care products at http://www.recycline.com/. You can also take advantage of a special 15% discount on 4 Preserve® products at http://recycline.com/subscription/subscription_choices.html

Send your clean SF yogurt cups to:

Stonyfield Farm
10 Burton Drive
Londonderry, NH 03053