Sustainable Company Efforts

Zao has made efforts to become more environmentally friendly by utilizing bamboo as a staple among all of their products. Bamboo powder is included as an ingredient in some of the products while bamboo wood is used as a main component in the structure of all of their packaging. With my research into bamboo, this appears to be a great step forward compared to using any sort of plastics. Also, most of their products are refillable. This means that instead of having to buy a completely new package each time you want more products you can reuse the original packaging you bought.

Trash Diary

(Glass)

According to Welch’s website, their plastics and glass containers are made from 100% recyclable glass. Meaning sorting this into the glass bin is a simple trick to recycle such an item.

http://www.welchs.com/frequently-asked-questions

(Plastic)

Plastics labeled number 1 are known as Polyethylene or Polyester. This is one of the best types of plastics as they are easily reused in the recycling process.

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These types of container tops are labeled as plastic type 6. This type of plastic is known as polystyrene or styrofoam. This means that they can be recycled with all the other plastics. However, as unfortunate as it is, this type of plastic will most likely not be reused by the manufacturer as it is too difficult to reimplement into the system.

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As unfortunate as it is to think some plastics simply are not labeled for their RIC number. This umbrella packaging as well as many plastics you find around the house, like individual floss hooks or plastic wrap, are very difficult to identify. This leads to many plastics being thrown out.

(Aluminum)

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These types of aluminum containers are perfectly recyclable as long as they are clean. Food particles interfere with the recycling process and can result in good material ending up in a landfill far before the end of its lifecycle. However, cleaning these tins and reusing them personally is the number way one to reduce waste with these types of products.

https://www.keeptruckeegreen.org/guide/takeout-containers-aluminum/

(Paper)

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The cup and aluminum foil and receipt are both laminated paper. Unfortunately, once a paper product is laminated it the fibers in the paper can not be reused and thus it is trash. The shoe stuffing and napkins can not be recycled either, however, they can reused for some other purpose.

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/a24837096/shopping-receipts-bpa-receipts-recycling/

https://www.mesacc.edu/recycling-sustainability/do-not-recycle

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On the Kleenex brand website, in their FAQ section, it explains that their tissue boxes are full recyclable with the poly insert attached.

(Compost)

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To compost various items a special system is required. You either lay your compostable materials down in a bed of dirt to allow worms and other organisms to feed which is the best method. But, if you live in a city this is extremely difficult. You would need to buy a compost bin from your city and then they will handle the compost thereafter. https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/composting/