LAFAYETTE, La. — The Easter Bunny has gone, and left us with toys, candy, bits of plastic green grass floating all over the house - and those plastic eggs.
As we begin to pick up our Easter decorations, some may be wondering what to do with all of those leftover plastic Easter eggs. Lafayette Consolidated Government is urging the community to not throw away or recycle the eggs, but rather find a way to repurpose them.
"We're trying to get the message out to make people realize that those plastic eggs cannot go into our recycling system," says Bess Foret and manager of Environmental Quality at LCG.
Foret is encouraging the community to get creative with the kids while they're out of school this week by using the eggs to complete DIY projects.
"Of course one way is to store them and save them for next year," says Foret. "But if you want to do something different, there are a lot of people out there that are very creative and like to do the do-it-yourself projects."
There are plenty of ideas online about how to repurpose the eggs, like creating string lights and garland for next Easter. The eggs could even come in handy in your garden this spring.
"You can use them in the bottom of your pots, so they're not so heavy. You put the soil right on top, and it makes great drainage in the bottom of your pots," says Kennis Pippin the owner of The Garden Center. "You can also take them, turn them upside down, and plant little succulents in them."
"Using these eggs is an idea to think about these types of things, like do I really need to use this only once, can I reuse it and can I find something else to do with it," says Foret. "There is a lot that goes into making those plastic eggs and we don't want them to just sit in a landfill forever, so it's a good lesson to just think about how you're using things around your home."
Along with the plastic eggs, the colorful plastic Easter grass used for decoration can also not be recycled. Added to that list of unwanted plastics are, grocery bags, sandwich bags and bubble wrap.
While these items cannot be recycled, item such as plastic bottles, jars and jugs are encouraged as long as they are emptied, cleaned and dried.
For a full list of ways you can reuse and repurpose your plastic eggs, you can visit the Lafayette Consolidated Government's Facebook page, or check out these articles with ideas here and here.
