Editor’s Note: Throughout the week, TommieMedia will be addressing green issues on campus and giving insight into the question of “How sustainable is St. Thomas?” Make sure to check out the sustainability page for daily updates.
Naked juice bottles and Starbucks coffee cups appear to be recyclable.
But the containers should not be tossed into recycling bins in the Twin Cities and that has been causing confusion for many. As recycling coordinator Bob Douglas puts it, the non-recyclable containers create “green-washing” with consumers.
“It’s greenwashing I think,” Douglas said. “Because they’re making people think they can recycle…it’s kind of a feel good thing, ‘I can recycle this cup,’ but you can’t recycle it.”
Why won’t the state accept them? I have also been putting the Naked juices in the recycling for quite some time. Nevertheless, I have experienced this problem with trying to recycle other things at home as well.