(Family Features) According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 90 percent of Americans want to protect the environment. Despite the desire to care for the earth, only 33 percent of trash in the U.S. actually gets recycled, and 54 percent gets buried in landfills.

In an effort to offset the amount of product waste that could potentially end up in landfills and motivate families to do their part to protect the environment for future generations, Ziploc has partnered with Recyclebank, the leading sustainable action platform designed to motivate and enable individuals to make a collective impact on the environment.

Families can incorporate these simple, earth-friendly tips into their kitchen routines:

- Recycle items that you no longer need, and participate in community recycling initiatives. Community support for recycling can vary from place to place. In fact, clean and dry Ziploc Brand Sandwich, Freezer and Storage Bags are now accepted at existing in-store recycling bins that accept plastic shopping bags for recycling at approximately 18,000 participating retailers nationwide.

- When buying supplies for your kitchen, choose durable and high quality kitchenware to withstand the test of time. Also, save energy (and potentially reduce your gas bill) by using smaller appliances when cooking small amounts of food. For example, heating water in an electric kettle rather than a teapot on the stove or cooking small or medium sized portions of food in the microwave instead of the regular oven use less energy.

- When preparing and storing meals for the family, try using Ziploc Brand Containers, which are available in a variety of sizes and shapes. They not only help families stay organized and get more out of meals (and reduce waste) by keeping food fresh, but they are also microwaveable, freezer-safe and are perfect for storing leftovers or carrying lunch to work.

- For a cold beverage, keep a cool pitcher of water in the fridge instead of letting the tap run until water gets cold. Refill one water glass or reusable bottle throughout the day so there will be fewer items to wash. After eating, don’t rinse dishes with water — just scrape off the excess food and load directly into the dishwasher. Tests by Consumer Reports showed that pre-rinsing usually isn’t necessary and by skipping it you can save 20 gallons of water per load.

To earn rewards, visit www.recyclebank.com/ziploc and pledge to recycle Ziploc Brand Bags and packaging. Soon, specially marked packages of the bags will be available for purchase. Simply enter the code from inside the marked packages and start earning points which can be redeemed for prizes.

Learn more at www.ziploc.com/sustainability. Additionally, share recycling and earth-friendly tips by joining the Facebook community at Facebook.com/Ziploc.


Here is a list from www.PlasticBagRecycling.org of some of the items you can recycle at in-store recycling bins:

-Clean and dry Ziploc Brand Bags
-Plastic grocery or retail bags
-Newspaper bags
-Dry-cleaning bags
-Bread and produce bags
-Toilet paper, napkin and paper-towel wraps
-Plastic shipping envelopes
-Clean plastic bags labeled #2 or #4

Contact your local retailer with a collection bin or your local recycling company for a full list of items that can be recycled in your community.

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