This Simple Task Can Make The Planet Better for Our Children
My Mom always taught us that when we visit someone’s home, we should do our best to help clean up and leave it even nicer than we found it. I think we can say the same thing about how we want to leave the world. A little better for our children. And their children.
We know trash is less than desirable. My kids and I notice it more now that we live in a wooded area without a fence. We’ll notice a random plastic bag or can that’s blown over from nearby construction and rush around to pick it all up. They’ve seen our animal friends visiting in our yard and they don’t want them to get hurt.
Growing up our recycling container was a small blue bin. We’d fill it with milk jugs and cans during the week, then set it out beside the trash can once a week. Now as an adult, with my own bills, including one for a large recycling can the same size of our trash can, I appreciate that we are trying to do better with our waste. We recently switched from bottled water to Primo filtered water, so we’ve eliminated plastic waste. And we try to recycle as much as we possibly can. I want these babies of mine to inherit a healthy planet.
The truth is, it isn’t always easy to know what’s recyclable and what isn’t. We read the labels but they aren’t always clear. And I recently learned that some things that seem like they can be recycled can’t. Or that things like non-washed empty peanut butter containers can contaminate other recyclables (so now we wash them first).
If you’ve seen Lee Lee’s thighs you know she loves to eat. She loves eating everything we eat, along with an assortment of Gerber toddler foods. Gerber was founded on the ambition to give babies the best start in life, but that doesn’t stop at nutrition. Lee Lee alone goes through packages and packages of food, and thankfully, by using Gerber, most of that packaging is recyclable. 80 percent to be exact. And now there’s something for the other 20%.
Gerber is partnering with the global recycling leader TerraCycle, on a program that’s changing the game in the baby food industry. We all want better futures for our kids right? Well, by sending in our empty baby food containers that can’t be recycled at home, we can help find a solution for hard-to-recycle packaging to create a healthier planet and brighter future for our babies.
This is a part of Gerber’s goal to achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025.
So here’s how it works. Choose your favorite baby food products at the store. After you use them, check the side of your Gerber packaging to see the How2Recycle label. That helps take the guesswork out of the process. If it can be recycled in your blue bin, toss it in! If not, wash it, package it up and send it to TerraCycle FREE OF CHARGE!
What I love about this program is that not only are Lee Lee’s favorite Gerber foods covered in this program, but so is hard-to-recycle baby food packaging on a national scale.
I’m excited to be an example for my kids so they can see the power of recycling from the start and know that one person–even a baby–Can make a difference.
Tags: Gerber, motherhood, parenting, planet, recycling, terracycle
