Trash Talk
From May 2007 to January 2008 a number of frogs decided to live without trash cans. Here is what they discovered — and carried with them.
San Francisco, Day 6 of 14: (Correction) Tom’s of Maine COULDN’T do much better
Evan Cordes has brought to my attention that Tom's of Maine will take back the aluminum toothpaste tubes if your city will not recycle them (see comments below). I don't think that San Francisco will accept them; so, I guess I'm going to collect a bunch of them over the next few months and send them back to Maine!
Previous Post:
Tom's of Maine is a favorite brand amongst environmental do-gooders (like myself). You get the sense that everything they make is a lot more natural than all the products made by Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.
However, I don't think there's much I can do with an empty tube of Tom's of Maine toothpaste. Natural or not, it's still destined for the landfill. There's some sort of recycling symbol on the back of the tube, but I have no idea what it means (see photo below).
I'll give $20 to anyone who can tell me what it means. I'm not kidding. $20 - it's just one Paypal payment away.
A trip to Peru
As I was peeling off the "Organic" sticker on my banana this morning (which is going to the landfill by the way ... ironic, isn't it?), I noticed yet another sticker on the bunch of bananas. It said "Visit our Farm at doleorganic.com ... FARM 003." The banana said "Peru" on it. So, I thought "hmm ... maybe I will."
http://doleorganic.com/farms/003/003.html
Not suprisingly, the site is very "green," literally. It's kind of cool though. You can see where the bananas come from and the people who work on the farm. Not bad. And the photo viewer is pretty nice as well. I digress.
Anyway, here's a list of what I landfilled/recycled/composted today.
Landfill
- My "I Voted!" sticker
- The two "Organic" banana stickers
- Tom's of Maine toothpaste tube
Recycling
- Miscellaneous voting papers
Compost
- Banana Peel
- Used napkins
Cheers,
Rob
I can't tell you what the
Katie Konrath - November 7, 2007
I can't tell you what the symbol means yet, but I do have a bit of information you'll like from the Tom's of Maine website:
I know that your tubes are recyclable, but how can I recycle them?
In order to recycle our toothpaste tubes, you must first remove the plastic cap and the plastic threaded covering on the neck of the tube. The tubes can then be tossed in with your aluminum cans for recycling. In case you're wondering, any toothpaste left in the tube and the food-grade plastic liner does not affect the tube's recyclability. When the aluminum is processed, any residual toothpaste as well as the food-grade liner melts away without contaminating the recycled product. If your town does not accept our tubes, please feel free to save up a bunch and send them to us at Tom’s of Maine, Consumer Dialogue Team, 302 Lafayette Center, Kennebunk, ME 04043. We would be happy to recycle them for you.
http://www.tomsofmaine.com/faq/#OCT10
I'll get back to you if I figure out what it means. But, bet it's good to know that the tube is recyclable!
Their tubes are very
evan cordes - November 7, 2007
Their tubes are very recyclable:
http://tomsofmaine.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/tomso...
I think the symbol means
Tassos - November 7, 2007
I think the symbol means it's recyclable aluminum.
t
The closed circle is used
Katie Konrath - November 7, 2007
The closed circle is used for aluminum sometimes in the UK, but I'm not sure what the mountain means.
Good news though, the Tom's of Main website says:
In order to recycle our toothpaste tubes, you must first remove the plastic cap and the plastic threaded covering on the neck of the tube. The tubes can then be tossed in with your aluminum cans for recycling....If your town does not accept our tubes, please feel free to save up a bunch and send them to us at Tom’s of Maine, Consumer Dialogue Team, 302 Lafayette Center, Kennebunk, ME 04043. We would be happy to recycle them for you.
And the winner is .... Evan
Trash Talk - November 7, 2007
And the winner is .... Evan Cordes! That didn't take too long. I reckon I could have researched the Tom's of Maine site more myself, but I appreciate the fact that Evan did it. Thanks, Evan.
I don't think that the San Francisco recycling program will accept an aluminum toothpaste tube that still has residual toothpaste in it, but I certainly could collect a bunch of them over time and send them to Maine, as the website suggests.
Evan, I'll send you the Paypal for $20 shortly.
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Katie, It appears that
Trash Talk - November 7, 2007
Hi Katie,
It appears that your comment with the link to the Tom's site was first, but the technology gods marked your comment as spam for some reason. So, I didn't get it until just now. If you do figure out what that symbol means, I'll still send you the $20!
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Trash Talk, What if
Laura Schewel - November 7, 2007
Hi Trash Talk,
What if Tom's of Maine switched to a refillable model, where you could refill your bottles of toothpaste at grocery stores/pharmacies for a small fee (a la water jugs)? Think of the reduction in packaging, in weight to transport, in loss of that tiny-bit-of-toothpaste-at-the-bottom! We should ask Tom's if they've considered it. Shipping toothpaste tubes back to Maine from California does not sound like a particularly sustainable option...
hey rob- I don't see that
Ilana - November 14, 2007
hey rob- I don't see that evan actually decoded the symbol... in fact I think those TOM (hey the acronym is the same as their name!) folks made it up! I've worked in recycling and also can't find that symbol in google images anywhere...
Also you can call the dept. of the environment to see if the sf recycling program would accept the tube, which I assume they would not, but think they should! (415) 355-3700
recycle-friendly toothpaste tube.
Dr. Joseph Portland - January 15, 2009
I do think that Tom's of Maine is really a recycle-friendly toothpaste tube.
ghd straighteners
ghd - July 21, 2010
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