Recycle your Pouches
I know how convenient ready made pouches are for feeding your little ones. and don't worry, I'm not writing to guilt you into stopping buying them completely in this post but I do want to ask you to start recycling them rather than automatically throwing them away.
I would obviously love it if more parents would give reusable pouches a go and use them to feed homemade baby food, smoothies or yogurts rather than buying them all ready filled. They can save so much waste and save you so much money....not to mention that you know exactly what your little one is eating.
BUT....I completely understand....those store bought pouches are so helpful when you suddenly find yourself with no food for a hungry little one or you have no way of keeping anything homemade cool. I've been there too. But I have a really big problem with the waste....An incredible amount of pouches are used each day all over the world and the UK is a massive culprit - the majority of this packaging goes straight to landfill.
Please read how you can recycle your pouches and help save so much waste....
How can I recycle my pouches?
Even if you are out and about just squeeze out any leftover food and pop the cap back on (rinse off any mess on the outside). Take them home and keep them all together in a bag and then have a look on the Terracycle website for a local drop off point for your pouches.
There are 2431 public drop off points all over the UK so there may be one fairly close to you. There are also many individuals who collect but who aren't listed so post a comment on your local Facebook selling site to see who is collecting locally to you so you can pass your on to them.
The scheme is sponsored by Ella's Kitchen, the largest pouched baby food manufacturer in the UK but any baby food pouch can be collected - it doesn't matter what brand. Even our reusable pouches can be sent off once they've come to the end of their lifespan. You can also include any Ella's Kitchen snack wrappers too.
Since the scheme began several years ago Terracycle have recycled 1,868,470 pouches...but it should be so much more. Over a million pouches of baby food, yogurts, smoothies and health foods are consumed each week alone in the UK from a pouch so only a very small percentage are currently being recycled.
£37,055.97 has been raised for charity since the scheme began and 1,868,470 pouches saved from landfill.....but it's not enough
Every pouch that is sent off to Terracycle (assuming they are sent off in bulk with a combined weight of 5kg) can raise 2p for a registered charity. The person that collects and ships the packages off to Terracycle selects the charity they wish to raise money for and all payments are made directly to the charity upon receipt of your pouches.
What happens to the pouches?
Upon arrival at the Terracycle facility, the baby food pouches and snack wrappers are cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.
Want to become a collector?
You can register yourself as a public drop off point or just collect amongst your friends. Once you have enough pouches to meet the 5kg limit (around 550 pouches) you can box everything up and request a free pick up via UPS. Get more details here.
If you've found this article and not heard about reusable food pouches before do have a look around my website. We have a selection of reusable products for homemade baby puree's, finger foods, yogurts, smoothies compotes and more!
Terracycle also recycles many other items such as Aerosols, biscuit wrappers, coffee pods, cleaning and beauty product packaging so it's worth taking a look at what else you could recycle and save from landfill. The fact that you can raise money for your chosen charity is a bonus! Click on the logo below to view all the schemes in detail.
