Solving the plastic problem one supplement bottle at a time

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.