5 Reuses for: Prescription Bottles

Lori Harfinest's 'man on the street' campaign engaged innocent passers-by in a water taste test on G-Word recently. Whenever I think about the number of plastic water bottles produced - and the oil used to manufacture them - a tiny pain throbs over the corner of my right eye. I reached for my prescription strength ibuprofen and popped the last one, leaving me to wonder the age-old green question: recyclable or not?

Nope: according to a recent Co-Op America newsletter citing Eco-Cycle, a community based nonprofit in Boulder, CO, prescription and vitamin bottles tend to be made of #5 plastic. This #5, however, has a different melting temperature than its brethren, and hence, is not simpatico to recycling (read more about plastics by the number). So on to the landfill the pill bottles go unless...

Strip off the labels, wash them out thoroughly, save up a bunch and then consider the following options.

Ways to Reuse Prescription Bottles:

- Give them to a homeless shelter. Some shelters use them for hand cream and shampoo that are handed out to homeless people.

- Bring them to the art department of a day care center or school. They're perfect for holding paints or liquid supplies.

- Use them yourself for gardening seeds or give them to your gardening friends. Seed packets are typically flimsy and these empty bottles are a good alternative.

- Organize everything! Consider them for countless other small storage purposes including thumb tacks, paperclips, toothpicks, small nails, picture hangers, nails, screws, nuts and bolts; craft supplies like sequins, needles, pins, beads; and lures and hooks for you fishermen out there.

If you've used these non-recyclable pill bottles for anything else that's useful, feel free to share with the PlanetGreen.com community ? leave us a comment!

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