Recycling For Stonyfield Yoghurt Cups

01 Mar 2007

Waltham, MA – Recycline®, makers of the environment-friendly Preserve® brand of consumer products, and Stonyfield Farm®, the world’s leading producer of organic yogurt, have announced an impressive milestone.

Their innovative partnership has led to the recycling of more than 2 million Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups into new Preserve® brand products. These New England companies share a commitment to educating consumers about healthy product choices and preserving the environment. Recycline and Stonyfield Farm are celebrating the five-year anniversary of their innovative recycling partnership with the production of a special edition of the Preserve toothbrush dedicated to their partnership.

Recycline uses recycled plastics to manufacture its Preserve brand products. Since Stonyfield Farm uses polypropylene (#5) plastic for some of its yogurt cup material, the recycling partnership with Recycline is a natural fit. “Sourcing recycled materials for a consumer product instead of using virgin resources is a great way to support natural resource conservation and reduce dependence on foreign fuels,” states Recycline’s President and founder Eric Hudson.

“Many people don’t realize that since plastics are made with valuable resources like natural gas and oil, using recycled materials is one very important step in reducing our reliance on foreign oil and gas,” adds Hudson. “Using recycled materials also reduces the cost to our environment caused by the exploration, mining, reprocessing and transportation of these precious resources.

In fact, the Natural Resource Defense Council reports that making products from recycled plastics vs. non-recycled plastics reduces pollution and energy usage by 70%-80%.” Recycline’s Preserve brand includes the Preserve® Toothbrush, the Preserve® Jr Toothbrush, the Preserve® Razor, Preserveä Tongue Cleaners and Preserveä Flavored Toothpicks made from sustainably harvested and locally grown white birch wood. In 2005, Recycline expanded into the kitchenware market with the launch of their Preserve Tableware line, which includes Preserveä Plateware, Preserveä Cutlery and Preserveä Tumblers - reusable and recyclable plates, forks, knives, spoons and cups made from recycled plastic and offered in stylish colors. The Preserve® Razor Triple is the latest addition to the Preserve brand. This new razor is the first environment-friendly alternative for high-performance shaving products. All of the handles of Recycline’s products are made from 100% recycled plastics much of which comes from recycled Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. The handles are also completely recyclable through community recycling programs that accept #5 plastics or by using Recycline’s unique postage-paid recycling mailer. All returned Preserve products and packaging are then recycled into plastic lumber which is used to make picnic tables, decks, boardwalks and other durable products.

Celebrating its 24th year, Stonyfield Farm is the world’s leading organic yogurt maker, and produces all natural and organic yogurt, smoothies, cultured soy, frozen yogurt, ice cream, milk and the new Shift™ energy drink. The company advocates that healthy food can only come from a healthy planet. It was the nation’s first dairy processor to pay farmers not to treat cows with the synthetic bovine growth hormone rBST.

Stonyfield donates 10 percent of its profits to environmental causes; was America’s first manufacturer to offset 100 percent of its CO2 emissions from its facility energy use; and recently installed the largest solar array in New Hampshire to help power its production plant -- all efforts to reduce global warming. "Stonyfield Farm has been educating consumers on key environmental issues and motivating them to take action for over 20 years," says Gary Hirshberg, president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm. “Our ongoing partnership with Recycline has made possible the recycling of more than 2,000,000 yogurt cups into useful new planet-friendly products like the Preserve® toothbrushes, and now, the Preserve Razor Triple. This project demonstrates what companies can do to take responsibility for their products from design to disposal.”

In 1996, Eric Hudson founded Recycline to provide high-quality products made from recycled materials in response to the growth in recycling and the evolution of environmental concern. The company’s mission is to help consumers conserve – to develop products with improved function that are also responsible to the Earth. The Preserve brand’s key message is “Preserve your Health, Preserve the Earth.