It's Cool - You Can Re-use or Recycle it!

Styrofoam containers are the sturdiest and most reliable way to transport your Diet-to-Go meals. We have considered other options over the years but haven’t discovered anything that protects the food and keeps it cold as well.

We know that it can be challenging to figure out what to do with the cooler each week and most people just throw them away. If you are looking for other options here are some tips for recycling your Diet-to-Go meal coolers.

Recycling

These are the items in your cooler that can be recycled:

1. Meal tray (cpet #1) - recycle with your curbside recycling

2. Film (plastic wrap) - recycle with your curbside recycling

3. Styrofoam Coolers – go to Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers or Earth 911, click on “Find a center”, input your zip code and you will find the closest eps (expanded polystyrene) recycling center near you. 

Re-Using

If recycling the coolers is not an option in your area, check out the following 9 utilitarian, creative, and humanitarian re-uses for your coolers:

1. Keep it in the trunk of your car for shopping trips. Put your frozen and refrigerated items in it on the ride home or while running errands.

2. Use it as a container to store your other recyclables. These coolers are approximately the same size as an 18 gallon recycling bin, so they’re easy to transport and hold quite a bit of material. If you have a curbside service that requires you to provide your own bins they work great for that too.

3. Use it for storage for your off season clothes like sweaters and woolens or holiday decorations.

4. Use it to send perishable gifts or plants to friends and family.

5. Vermicomposters can use it to make a worm bin to get rid of kitchen scraps.

6. Decorate it and use it for a toy box for a kid’s room. Let your kids have fun coloring or painting it. You can even use some colored duct tape to make a hinge to keep the lid on.

7. Decorate and use it as a planter.

8. Box and wrap Christmas gifts in it.

9. Heavy duty Styrofoam coolers make great outdoor housing for your small pets. They make great homes in the winter for strays and cats that are not house trained. 

• a. Cut a small hole for a door

• b. Stock the inside with old towels

• c. Sealed the top of the cooler onto the bottom with duct tape.

What are some of your ideas for reusing the coolers? Share them in the comment section below.      



           

Author: Kristen Ciuba
Kristen is a Nutritionist at Diet-to-Go, based in Lorton, VA. She tries to “practice what she preaches” by fitting in healthy foods and cooking, challenging exercise, and quality time with family and friends every day!