Recycling is an easy thing that just about anyone can do to help contribute to a cleaner environment for us all to enjoy. As the concept of recycling has gained popularity over the last couple of decades, and we all agree it’s good, you will notice that more and more things can be recycled. Once upon a time people would have to take their recyclables to special centres if they wanted to recycle their goods, now it is common place to have your recyclable goods picked up at your kerb side along with your everyday rubbish.
Recycling, used to be frowned upon, but now we love it.
While the process of recycling has improved quite a bit, many people are surprised at the number of items that still can’t be recycled. One of the most common things that people assume can be recycled is bottle tops. The bottle itself can be recycled, so why can’t the bottle top be recycled as well? The reason is actually quite simple; the bottle is typically made out of different materials than its top. Glass and many grades of plastic can be recycled, but bottle tops do not typically fall into this category, and therefore should not be placed into the recycling bin.
Bottle tops - the scourge of the greenie.
There are a variety of different things that can happen to those bottle tops that you decide to leave on the bottles that you are recycling. Depending on where you live, and who is responsible for your recycling, the bottles that have tops on them may not even be collected. This means that not only do you have to remove the tops on all of the rejected bottles, you also have to store the recyclables until the next collection for recycling. If you find yourself in a situation where your recycling bin is bursting at the seams each week this will be a particular hardship for you.
If you rely on a weekly recycle service, storing your bottle tops could be a pain
If you leave the tops on your bottles and they are collected during routine recycling you may face another problem. Depending on who is doing the recycling, they might simply discard all bottles that come into the recycling facility that still have tops attached to them. This means that not only your bottle tops but the bottles themselves end up in a landfill somewhere. All of the hard work you invested into recycling ends up to be in vain.
If you leave the tops on - this is where your bottles could end up.
Other recycling facilities will cut the tops off of the bottles, and the bottle tops will eventually make their way into a landfill. There are many better things that can be done with bottle tops so you probably want to avoid having this happen as well. We will get back to bottle top recycling a little bit later, but let us consider one more thing that can happen to your bottle tops if they are left on during recycling. If by chance your bottle top makes it through the sorting process it will eventually find itself tightly squished into a pile made up of other plastic recyclables. People purchase these compressed bales of plastic for use in recycling. If on inspection a buyer sees a bunch of bottle tops in the bale they can outright reject it as bottle tops are not good for recycling. This can mean that the whole plastic bale will make its way to the landfill, which is exactly what you do not want to happen.
If a bottle top is discovered in this batch, the whole lot gets junked
In most circumstances bottle tops simply can’t be recycled. There are, however, a few different types of bottle tops that are safe to recycle. You need to find out two different things in order to discover if you are one of the lucky ones who can recycle bottle tops. The first thing you need to understand is what you can recycle in your area. Call the company that provides recycling in your area and ask them the specifics regarding what they will collect. While you have them on the phone ask about bottle tops to see if they have a specific policy for them. The next thing you need to do is look at your bottle top and see if it has the commonly recognised recycling symbol, made up of three arrows in a triangle, stamped on it. If you spot one it is a hopeful sign that you just might be able to recycle it. Take a look inside the triangle for a number. Based on what the number is and what your recycler will collect you can determine if you can recycle your bottle tops.
Check for the reycling symbol on the bottle - then you’ll be alright
Most recyclers will accept anything that has a number one or two. More advanced recycling companies can collect some of the higher numbers, but they are not as common. If you can’t seem to locate a recycling symbol and a number anywhere on the bottle top it is a good guess that your recycler will not be willing to accept it. This is a good rule of thumb when trying to determine if any particular product can be recycled or not.
The good news is that even if you can’t recycle your bottle tops with the local recycling company there are plenty of different things that you can do with them to help keep them out of landfills. Many charities collect bottle tops for fundraisers, so take a look around your area to see if there is a collection box nearby where you can deliver your bottle tops.
Some charities take in bottle tops - this is one avenue
There are also special recycling companies like G.H.S. Recycling that will accept those pesky bottle tops that you are desperate to get rid of. In order for this company to accept your bottle caps they need to be completely clean and free of any price tags that might be stuck to the top of them. Look at the inside and make sure they do not have any type of plastic or paper insert. If they do it will need to be removed as well.
How do you recycle bottle tops? See this neat video.
Companies that specialise in recycling unusual objects like bottle tops will generally use them to make hard plastic products. Who knows, your old bottle tops might even be used to create new bottle tops.
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Thank you for reminding us all of this one simple way to help improve our environment. I first heard about this years ago. And I now live in a small village that got a cheap recycling service. I doubt they are are actually processing plastic bottles with caps on.
So thank you for the wake up call to go ask questions in the right places to find out.
I always think that most things can be recycled, it’s just that we do not know how to recycle (or reuse) them yet. But it’s good to know that there are companies that are spearheading the recycling process by trying to recycle different things and thinking of ways to reuse (or refurbish) them
Ok but once you’ve taken the cap off do you have to remove the plastic ring as well (which tells you whether the bottle has been opened or not). That’s probably something people will forget to do and it’s quite hard to get them off.