Envision Charlotte, a non-profit seeking to make Charlotte a savvy, environmentally sustainable city, is now taking donations of plastic takeout containers. Many of us have a growing collection of them at home, with little use for the stacks upon stacks collected over weeks of to-go dining. The containers aren’t recyclable in Mecklenburg County, giving us the decision to overfill our Tupperware drawers or throw out perfectly good containers.

The program kicking off from Envision Charlotte will take the hard plastic containers and melt them down to create filament that can be used in 3-D printers. The containers must be black, white, or clear plastic, and free of any stickers or labels. The containers can be round or rectangular.

The machine to create the filament, which cost $20,000, was purchased though a fundraising effort conducted by high school students in the United States and China as well as support from the North America Chinese Chamber of Commerce. This is the first program of its kind to take place in the United States.

Organizations that are producing PPE can apply for the filament through Envision Charlotte, with deliveries beginning July 1. Donations can be dropped off at 1105 Otts Street, in the Belmont neighborhood, at Solid Waste Services.

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