This week, updates. Let me know if you have others.

Pill Bottles

They are too small to go in the recycle to be sorted in the plastic mix. Before the July 2025 changes, our green team took the bottles to a veterinarian to use for pet medicines. Now mine are in a large empty can in the garage with their labels removed. But one from our church told me that their CVS pharmacy takes the empty ones back. We have 3 local CVS’s. I called the one in Springfield at the Target store but the nice woman who answered said they don’t take them. The CVS on west 11th is also part of a Target store and returned my call to say they don’t take them. Getting through to ask a non-prescription question is difficult. So I visited the CVS our member uses at 57 W. 29th. What a store! A nice man explained that yes, they take them and remove all identifying information and clean out any remaining residue inside. But the bottles are not reused or recycled into a new plastic substance. They are just collected and “disposed of” somehow.

Toothpaste

All those plastic tubes can only go into the trash when we empty them. But one of you suggested earlier that you can get the last bits out by cutting off the corner. Another shared about a device that pushes the last bits out. But here is the newest update: you can get toothpaste tablets and avoid the plastic tubes. I haven’t tried it but the brand Style (whose tablets come in a glass bottle) is recommended. There is also UnPaste, Kaylaan, The Humble Co, and Bite Toothpaste Bits.

By Marilyn Flick