Are Plastic Bottle Caps Recyclable?
Are plastic bottle caps recyclable? The short answer is yes, plastic bottle caps are recyclable.
The long answer is a bit more complicated. Different recycling centers will have different guidelines for what they can and cannot accept. The majority of recycling centers in the United States will accept plastic bottles with the lids still attached.
Other locations may ask you to separate the lids from the bottles before recycling them. Some locations are not set up to recycle the lids, so they may ask you to throw them away.
Why is it important to recycle bottle caps?
According to the North Sea Foundation Report, bottle caps are among the top 5 items found as trash littered along beaches. It is also considered one of the most harmful pieces of ocean trash for sea life.
Birds that live on beach shores are one of the animals that are negatively impacted by our consumption of plastic products. Researchers in Hawaii found that every albatross chick in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands had consumed plastic. 100% of them.
Bottle caps were some of the plastics found in their stomachs. More than 20 million bottle caps and lids have been found during beach cleanups across the globe. It is estimated that Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
However, it is currently unknown how many of these bottles and bottle caps will eventually find their way into our oceans. Bottle caps that are not recycled are known to travel long distances, especially if they reach the ocean.
Midway Atoll, a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a population of fewer than 60 people, found almost 5,000 bottle caps in a 2016 debris removal effort. The closest city to Midway Atoll is Honolulu which is 1,300 miles away.
These small plastic pieces are a big problem for marine life. They are easily swallowed but are not easily digested and can lead to the death of these beautiful creatures.
Recycling Bottle Caps
The guidelines around what to do with the caps on bottles have changed several times over the past decade. Previously, the caps and the bottle needed to be separated in order to be properly recycled and prevent caps from flying off when processed. Now, it’s generally recommended to crush the bottles and then put the caps on them.
The advances in technology have made it easier for recycling centers to process and separate bottles from the caps so both materials can be recycled properly. It is still recommended that all bottles being recycled are clean and dry before they are put into the recycling bin.
What to do with plastic bottle caps if recycling is not available?
If plastic bottle caps are not accepted at your local recycling center, they must be removed before the bottle is recycled. The caps are more difficult to recycle than the bottles for a couple of reasons.
First, they are small and can be missed by or even jam up the machines used to sort recycling. Secondly, plastic bottle caps are made with a different resin and typically have a seal inside them that can be difficult to separate.
There are a few other options to keep these pollutants out of the ocean. One option is ensuring all of these small pieces of plastic are thrown into a plastic trash bag that can be fully sealed to prevent the caps from planning an escape.
Creating an Ecobrick is a great way to prevent a lot of small plastics from entering our waterways. Ecobricks are plastic bottles that have been filled with small, non-recyclable plastic pieces. These bottles are then used as building materials instead of commissioning new bricks to be made.
There is a guide online with specific rules on how to create an ecobrick. If that doesn’t sound like your thing, putting small pieces of plastic in a plastic bottle with a lid will cut down on microplastics that escape into our environment.
Terracycle also has a plastic bottle cap recycling box if this is something you are willing to pay for to see recycled responsibly. Pinterest is an amazing resource if you want to get crafty with the bottle caps instead of tossing them.
How are plastic bottle caps recycled?
The plastic bottles are clean, dry, and have made their way to the recycling facility. The process from here is a little different in each location, but the general process is roughly the same.
First, the plastic bottle and the bottle cap are separated, and the bottles are flattened. Bottles and caps are both sent into a vigorous cleaning process. Here, the bottles will sink, and the caps will float. From there, plastic bottle caps are shredded and sent to another facility to be made into different plastics.
Are bottle caps recyclable in your area?
The confusion around how to responsibly dispose of plastic bottle caps is understandable. There are all kinds of conflicting details out there. The best way to check how the recycling centers in your area deal with bottle caps is to call or visit the website of your local sanitation department (or whoever picks up the recycling in your area). Earth911.com is a great resource for finding recycling locations for plastic bottle caps and other hard-to-recycle items you may run across in your daily life.
The key takeaways:
- Plastic bottle caps can be recycled, but it can be complicated
- Leave caps on crushed plastic bottles for recycling (check your local guidelines first!)
- If your local facility cannot recycle bottle caps, they need to be thrown away responsibly
- There are alternative recycling and upcycling options if curbside recycling is not available in your area
- Plastic bottle caps are in the top 5 pieces of litter found in beach cleanups
- Plastic pollution is harmful to marine life
- Plastic bottle caps are considered in the top 5 of the most harmful pieces of trash for marine life
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