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How Do I Recycle Plastic Bottle Caps?

What’s the deal with Plastic bottle caps? Some communities say to leave them out of recycling, some say they are fine. Some communities want you to leave the caps on your bottles, others want them left off. What’s with all the different rules when it comes to plastic bottle caps? Are they actually recyclable and if so, how can I recycle plastic bottle caps?

The Trouble with Bottle Caps

The problem with plastic bottle caps starts with the fact that many of them are made from #5 plastic (polypropylene), whereas the bottles themselves are usually made from either #1 (PET) or #2 (HDPE) plastic. When it comes time to melt that plastic down for recycling, it would be best if different types of plastic weren’t mixed in together. Strike one for leaving the caps on.

But if the caps are left loose in the mix of recyclables, most of them are so small, they will simply fall through the disk screens at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Here’s a quick video to show you what disc screens look like and how they separate small bits of debris from the bulkier recyclables.

Unfortunately, most plastic caps won’t make it through this process, they’ll fall through into the debris or end up contaminating the glass shards. Strike one for leaving the caps loose in the mix.

If caps are left out of recycling entirely, well then that’s just a wasted unrecycled resource. Plus plastic bottle caps are a huge problem when it comes to ocean debris and pollution. Strike one for leaving the caps out of recycling altogether.

Related: Why Can’t I Recycle Plastic Bags in My Bin?

Long story short – all the options kinda suck.

Your local MRF (recycling/sorting facility) has been trying to determine how best to deal with this issue. Most likely they are deferring to what the end user of the plastic prefers (i.e. whether the receiving manufacturer is okay with mixed plastics, or whether they only want #1 and #2). My program (for now) is asking us to leave the caps on. Others request you to leave them off and out of your recycling entirely. Check with your local recycling program and see what they’d like you to do.

Is there any other way to recycle plastic bottle caps if my program won’t take them?

You can mail caps with a #5 stamp or no stamp to Preserve.

The only program I am currently aware of that will take plastic caps for recycling is Preserve’s Gimme 5 program. They no longer have any drop-off locations, but you can mail them bottle caps along with other types of #5 plastic like butter tubs, yogurt containers, prescription pill bottles and so on.

Be sure to check your caps that they are not stamped with a number other than #5. They take #5 plastic caps, and unstamped caps. If the caps are stamped #1, #2 or anything else, they don’t want them.

Starting an in-school bottle cap collection to be sent to Preserve for recycling could be a fun way to teach kids about recycling and encourage them to think about how much waste we are creating and how to make better choices.


Related: Can I Recycle Plastic Pill Bottles?

The post How Do I Recycle Plastic Bottle Caps? appeared first on Green and Grumpy.



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How Do I Recycle Plastic Bottle Caps?

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