Someone shared this on my local FB Mum page...SERIOUSLY!

[Squiff85]

A bit of a random one, but I'm sure someone here will know. I'm having a clear-out of old sun lotions etc, all way past their best. What's the best way to dispose of them? I want to be able to put the bottles in recycling and tipping the contents down the sink doesn't feel particularly eco-friendly. Thanks!

Is it just me, or is this tragic?! She really needs more to worry about IMO!

You'd burn PLASTIC?? It's toxic!

You are misusing the word "tragic" in the same way pre-teens do.

You appear to think tragic=uncool.

Rustybear, that's a good point and I don't know the answer except that neither directly into the drain or filtered through landfill is a good solution. My preferred option is the recycling tip, where I imagine that they have some safe route of disposing of chemicals. But, they may well just send them to landfill! One of the ways that chemicals are disposed of though is by incineration, which comes with its own problems and certainly doesn't have a very eco friendly image!
I also would not recommend using sun cream as a moisturiser, the chemicals are generally considered safe, but there is some ( possibly rather weak) evidence that they act as endocrine disruptors. Probably much lower risk than sun damage, but no point in using unnecessarily.
I would also not recommend using old sunscreen as a sunscreen!! Different wavelengths of UV light have different damaging effects, so the sunburning bit of the sunlight is not necessarily the same same part of the spectrum that causes the DNA damage ( which can ultimately lead to skin cancer). So, just because you aren't burning, does NOT mean that the cream is still protecting you well.

Niskayuna that's very funny.

I have a friend who has a slightly similar problem in her father - he comes to visit from Belgium and her whole kitchen will be full of carefully washed yoghurt pots drying, and loads of refuse paraphernalia waiting for him to disassemble/ wash/ research the disposal. They have 4 children so there are 8 of them when her parents come to visit - it truly gets out of control.

For a pp - There are some London boroughs who do the recycling sorting at the centre - you put all recycling into 1 container and they separate it there.

I use it as a cleanser/body lotion.
Surprisingly good at getting makeup off because of the oily consistency. I just stick all the flavours in together then recycle the bottles... And it ends up smelling like coconut of course . Waste is a serious issue, really serious.

Contents need to be landfilled, bottle washed and recycled. Do not tip the contents down the sink. It annoys me when well-intentioned people think that the sink is a suitable disposal route for out of date things.

Milk, for example. Tipping a half-empty bottle of milk down the sink so you can recycle the bottle does more damage to the environment than if you just chucked the whole thing in the landfill! But there is such a lack of awareness on this kind of thing and I am surprised that bottles don't have to specify whether their contents can be disposed of down the sink in the same way they state whether the container is recyclable.

barin, what is the problem with milk disposal and how should we be disposing of it then? I often have milk left which has gone 'over' - we're a household which doesn't seem to have a consistent amount of milk use - so I'm forever throwing it away. I don't really want to put the whole carton in the bin; firstly they won't recycle it like that so it will have to go in the landfill and secondly I don't really want to risk it bursting and making my bin smell bad forevermore. What should I do with it?

I think it's a very sensible question, and your friend is sensible for asking it, OP. It's way, way more "tragic" not to give a shit about the environment, when it's all we've got to survive in.

I have ancient sunscreen, but since neither DS not I like exposing anything more than our hands and faces to the elements (he hates shorts, won't wear sandals even, and the world hasn't seen my knees at all this century), a bottle lasts a very long time!

OP I'm with you. I wonder at the minutae that people worry about and wish I had time to post about such shite.

And yet you had the time to post this.

As an aside, I often use sachets these days. great in hand luggage, maybe less waste? (if you're someone who doesn't use loads). My sachets were recyclable too.

DP one mistakenly used sun lotion to clean the shower screens. He was there for absolutely ages, red in the face, trying to get them smear-free, but my goodness, did they do the trick. The cleanliness lasted for absolutely ages!

once

I'm with you OP.

LBOCS2, if you're not getting through the milk why not stick the carton into the freezer and defrost when you need it? Instead of letting it rot and throwing it away?
If you're going to chuck it, down the drain is ok for milk, it won't clog the sewers and the nutrients which would pollute the waterways should be degraded in the sewage treatment process.

I've also been told that milk should not be poured down the sink but what else would you do with it?