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Solving the plastic problem one supplement bottle at a time

Rainbow Light is partnering with NGO 5 Gyres to combat plastics pollution in the ocean. Every plastic supplement bottle is not just recyclable, but recycled. That's a first. But there's more.

Todd Runestad, Content Director, NaturalProductsInsider.com, Sr. Supplements Editor

March 17, 2017

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Texas-size plastic patch in the Pacific Ocean. Turns out it’s much larger than that—and much more difficult to clean up than you might imagine. What can we possibly do about our love affair with this petrochemical product?

The 5 Gyres Institue is a nonprofit group dedicated to finding solutions. One such answer is found in the supplements aisles—most pill bottles are made of plastic. It’s one thing to pat yourself on the back as you recycle the bottle, but the fact remains that the bottle is derived in the first place from virgin plastic.

So 5 Gyres teamed up with visionary supplements company Wellnext—the umbrella brand of Rainbow Light and Natural Vitality—to make all of its supplement bottles created instead from 100 percent post-consumer plastic. That means the bottles are not just recyclable, but also recycled to begin with.

What if every supplement manufacturer followed suit?

For more, listen in on this conversation between New Hope Network’s Todd Runestad, Wellnext’s Terri Anne Cooper and 5 Gyres’ Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff.

About the Author

Todd Runestad

Content Director, NaturalProductsInsider.com, Sr. Supplements Editor, Natural Products Insider

I've been writing on nutrition science news since 1997. I'm The content director for NaturalProductsInsidercom and digital magazines. Other incarnations: supplements editor for newhope.com, Delicious Living and Natural Foods Merchandiser. Former editor-in-chief of Functional Ingredients magazine and still cover raw material innovations and ingredient science.

Connect with me here https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddrunestad/

My daily vitamin regime includes a morning smoothie with a range of powders including protein, collagen and spirulina; a quality multi, B complex, C with bioflavonoids, >2,000IU vitamin D, E, magnesium, high-selenium yeast, PQQ, choline, alpha-lipoic acid with carnitine, coQ10, fish oil concentrate, probiotics and some adaptogenic herbs. 

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