Burt’s Bees has partnered with Preserve to spur collection of #5 plastics from lip balm tubes and caps, while providing raw material for consumer goods.
The partnership will recover plastics from Burt’s Bees Lip Balm, Tinted Lip Balm and Lip Shimmer products, and use them to create goods including toothbrushes and razors.
Polypropylene plastic, also known as #5 plastic, is the most common plastic in use in the US, according to the companies. It can be easily recycled, yet less than one percent of it actually is recycled. Lip balm tubes are also too small to be collected easily in the automated separators used by most materials recovery facilities, the companies say.
Source: Environmental Leader