Are Inflatable Pools Recyclable? (And 5 Ways to Reuse)

Swimming pools are a luxury for many people, but building a standard one can be a huge financial burden on you. Nonetheless, this does not have to be the end. To not lose out on all ends, people have devised a way to enjoy the calm of swimming pools by using inflatable pools. Though, inflatable pools won’t replace the swimming pool but will serve the same purpose. This, to a large extent, is good news for many people.

While we commend inflatable pools for coming through, we also need to look at some of the likely consequences. And for this aspect, we will pay attention to the environmental effects of inflatable pools and other related things.

Hence, in this post, we shall examine if you can recycle inflatable pools and the toys in them. We will also see if you can recycle hard plastic kiddie pools. Lastly, we would consider the things you can do with an old inflatable pool.

There’s a lot of things to pick up from this post. So, we advise you to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Can You Recycle An Inflatable Pool?

When you look at your environment and see how easy people are using inflatable pools, you would marvel. Inflatable pools have found their way to homes, recreational centers, and schools. While this is great, we need to consider whether they won’t cause any problem for the environment.

One obvious place to start is by examining if the inflatable pools are recyclable. Yes, inflatable pools are recyclable. This sounds like the news you have been yearning to hear. But then, there are many things attached to this.

The most important of all is that not all recycling centers accept inflatable pools for recycling. The reason is because of the materials, the inflatable materials have been made with. They come in polyvinyl chloride plastic materials. This kind of plastic materials are regarded as number three and are being recycled. However, not all recycling companies yet can take up this kind of recycling.

This is the reason its recycling is not well known. For this reason, you will have to make some efforts if you want to recycle your inflatable pools. These efforts include you finding the right recycling station that will take up your inflatable pools.

As a way of helping you out, you can browse through this recycling directory. Hopefully, you will be able to find it. A recycling station near you that accepts inflatable pools. 

Can You Recycle Inflatable Pool Toys?

If you have seen an inflatable pool before, you would not have difficulties recalling how inflatable pool toys look. Having toys in the pools is to help children and some adults catch fun while in the pool. Generally, inflatable pools best suit children and novice swimmers.

So, having toys in the pools shouldn’t be a big deal. But then, just like the question was raised for inflatable pools, can we recycle inflatable pool toys too? Well, hang around; we will come to that in an instant.

Like the inflatable pool, you cannot recycle the toys found in them too. How’s this so? Well, let’s get to that too.

Inflatable pool toys are made with the kind of plastic materials for the inflatable pools themselves. This means that their recycling is either impossible or difficult.

Aside from being difficult to recycle due to their kind of plastics, they also have chlorine and often contain heavy metals. Generally, they are classified as a human carcinogen. This makes inflatable pool toys a dangerous plastic to use.

This, however, does not mean they pose health issues for you in the pool. It only means that recycling them and reusing them way comes along with some health issues.

Are Hard Plastic Kiddie Pools Recyclable?

As a parent or someone with many kids around, you have probably been convinced by the children to buy a hard-plastic kiddie pool. While the kids may find this extremely useful and grateful to you for heeding their advice, there are some underlying things to note.

Generally, the hard-plastic kiddie pools are only for a short period. Kids grow up, and when they do, they come over the idea of hopping into a kiddie pool. So, what becomes of the pool? Except you are running a children’s recreation center, the pools become useless. So, the option of disposing of it by recycling comes to bear.

But here, the big question comes to play. Can you recycle hard plastic kiddie pools? Well, let’s find out together.

Generally, hard plastic pools are made with two types of plastic materials. The first kind of material is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and the second one being low-density polyethylene (LPDE) plastic.

These materials are both plastics but have different recycling difficulties. For PVC plastic, it is either impossible to recycle or difficult to recycle. For the LPDE plastic, it is easier to recycle.

Hence, it goes to say that whether or not you will recycle a hard-plastic kiddie pool will depend largely on its kind of plastic materials. However, the problem is that it the PVC hard plastic kiddie pools that are in constant use. This means, yearly, fewer hard plastic kiddie pools are making it to the recycling bin.

The way out? This will be to encourage the use of LPDE plastic among Americans. This way, we can all be sure that these pools will be recycled and used for something else in the end. Unlike the PVC bard plastic kiddie pools, they won’t end up in the landfill, posing another environmental concern.

Can You Put An Inflatable Pool In The Recycling Bin?

Putting an inflatable pool in the recycling bin may be the second-best option after getting the pool itself. True to it, as humans, when we sense that something has a list of its use, we tend to look for ways to abandon them or dispose of them.

As people concerned about the environment, disposing of these inflatable pools come as easy as anything. But does this make complete sense? You can trust us to give you honest answers on this, so let’s get to it.

Like we have explained above, inflatable recycling pools can be very tricky. Based on the material they are made with; you can recycle them with significant difficulties. As a result of this, not all recycling stations have the capacity to take upon these recycling difficulties for inflatable pools.

This means that it would not be a bit of sound advice if we tell you to put your inflatable pools in the recycling bin without paying attention to some salient things. Some of those things include you checking if your local recycling station can take up the recycling of the inflatable pools. If it does, then one problem is solved.

Aside from this, you should also confirm the recycling policy for inflatable pools of your local recyclers. Some may require that you drop the inflatable pools off in their station. Where this is the case, then you shouldn’t put it in your recycling bin.

Alternatively, if your recycling company has a pick-up policy, then you can put it in your recycling bin. When doing this, ensure that the recycling bin is placed in an obvious place. This will ensure that the recycling company has easy access to it when picking up the inflatable pools.

In all, whether or not you can put your inflatable pools in the recycling bin would be determined by the prevailing circumstances in your community and your local recycling company. So, find out about this before you make a decision. This will help you a lot.

5 Surprising Ways to Reuse An Old Inflatable Pool

Old things can sometimes constitute a nuisance to us. Why this may be possible is because we have failed to see other ways to use them. Being old doesn’t automatically translate to being useless. With a little creativity and guidance from experts, you can put your old things to better use.

With inflatable pools, though they may be old, they are still of good use. All that you need is a little bit of creativity and guidance that we will provide below. So, follow through to gain insight.

1. Store Drinks And Foods

If your inflatable storage is only old but in good condition, you can always use it to store drinks and foods. This is best used when you are organizing an outdoor event. This way, you have to inflate your inflatable pools, pour enough water to submerge your bottle of drinks and foods that you can serve chilled. Then, you can put some ice on it. This way, it stays chilled, and everyone can make a pick of their favorite drinks or foods while they catch fun.

2. Make A Pet Pool

True, your kids have outgrown inflatable pools, but your pet would rarely do. If you have ducks, you can put them in the inflatable pool and pour enough water. You can be sure that your ducks will love it. You can even use the inflatable pools for bathing some of your pets.

However, if you are using inflatable pools as a pet pool, you should dig the floor and place the inflatable pool inside. This will prevent the duck from puncturing it with its peak.

3. Make A Garden

Who says you can’t make a garden even if you don’t have enough backyard space? What they probably don’t know is that an old inflatable pool will serve almost the same function. You have to fill it with soil and plant the place where you have sunlight and enough air. The next thing is to watch your plants grow.

4. Create Your Shower Curtain

If your current shower curtains are old, and you are thinking of spending to get a new one, you might have to pause a bit. What you don’t know is that you can make a new shower curtain from your inflatable pools. What you have to do is to cut the inflatable pools into different sizes. After this, you can sew them together until they are large enough like your shower curtain. Next thing? Hang them and begin to use them.

5. Make A Purse Or Bag

With inflatable pools, you can make a purse as well as a bag for your personal use or gift item. What you have to do is cut the inflatable pools and sew them to your desired sizes. That’s all; you have just got yourself a new bag.

Conclusion

Inflatable pools don’t have to be recycled. Even though recycling them may be difficult, you can make them into different things as we have suggested above.

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About Rinkesh

A true environmentalist by heart ❤️. Founded Conserve Energy Future with the sole motto of providing helpful information related to our rapidly depleting environment. Unless you strongly believe in Elon Musk‘s idea of making Mars as another habitable planet, do remember that there really is no 'Planet B' in this whole universe.