We have 7 people in our house – me, Matt, William, Alex, Ben, Henry and Victoria. Believe it or not, right now – all of us are sharing an upstairs bathroom. The bathroom in my bedroom is getting remodeled, so we’re all “stuck” using the “kids” bathroom right now. I never truly realized just how many products we use as a family, but it’s true – we use a TON of products. Shampoos, conditioners, lotions, makeup bottles, baby washes, sprays, etc… they’re all in our bathroom, that’s a lot of products!
Oh, yes – that’s just a little peek at one of my cabinets.
But here’s the thing that is absolutely crazy to share with you and something that I didn’t know before — according to the Unilever Bathroom Recycling Index:
The average American has 8 products in plastics bottles in their bathroom at a given time, yet only 34% of Americans always recycle these bottles when empty.
o That’s nearly 600 million plastic bottles that could end up in landfills each year.
o Beware of the product hoarders! 1 in 5 Americans (20%) have more than 10 bathroom products in plastic bottles in their bathroom at a given time.
As you can tell, we have WAY MORE THAN 8!!
Unilever launched something amazing… “Rinse. Recycle. Reimagine.” This is a new program in partnership with Keep America Beautiful and the Ad Council designed to educate people about recycling in the bathroom, inspire them to reimagine what empty bathroom products could become through recycling, and ultimately make a small change that holds big potential to positively impact the environment.
So this got me thinking… I need to make sure we’re (as in ALL OF US!) recycling all the products in our bathroom and disposing them correctly and effectively. I knew I really needed to teach the boys that when we’re done with a product, we recycle it – we don’t just toss it in the trash. The thing is, we’re REALLY amazing recycling products in our kitchen. We’re good at it because we have recycle bins in our kitchen that help us easily and seamlessly recycle paper, plastic, containers, etc. In our bathroom, we didn’t have any bins – we just had our trash can… which I felt was the issue for us. How can ANY product be reimagined if I’m not giving that product the chance to be?
First thing I did? I grabbed a basket at our house to use as a recycle bin. I wanted to make sure I had a reminder in our bathroom for our family – when a product is empty – it’s RECYCLED. I wanted something pretty. I wanted something adorable. I wanted something that would fit in our bathroom.
Next part… teaching the kids!
Empty product?
Oh, yes – when you find one – you need to dispose of it correctly. I needed them to know that once you’re done – you rinse out the product and you immediately recycle. My Ben loved helping me out, which was adorable!
Easy peasy, right?
It’s time to make sure we’re recycling in the BATHROOM!!
Get your family involved. Make a family thing. Take the time to educate and make a difference with them!
Tell me – how do you recycle in the bathroom? Or how do you plan to?
Disclosure: This is a sponsored posting with Unilever. All opinions are 100% my own.
