You had a good run with that gallon of milk - cereal, milk for your coffee, a béchamel to make Julia Child proud. You walk it out to the recycling bin on the street, thank it for its service and wave goodbye. I wonder where that little jug is headed you might think. If it's lucky, it's recycled, bought by Green Toys and turned into a wonderful toy for a child.

The milk containers used to produce Green Toys have been reprocessed into a "super clean fresh plastic" called high-density polyethylene (HDPE) which ranks among the safest and cleanest plastics. Tested by an independent third party, the toys contain no traceable amounts of Phthalates or BPA.

The raw material for the toys comes from California where every step of the production takes place greatly reducing the expenditure of energy and greenhouse gases. And, of course, packaging for Green Toys is earth friendly. They use only corrugated cardboard, itself fully recyclable.

But how are the toys, you ask? They're simple, colorful and encourage creative play. A gardening kit has three kinds of seeds for kids to plant along with easy instructions. A sand play set is perfect for the beach or playground. Kids could throw quite the party with the tea set and cookware and dining set. And who knows, perhaps you and your milk jug will be reunited.

Find a local retailer here.