Can Soda Bottle Caps Be Recycled

You can now recycle plastic bottle caps lids the plastics recycling industry is now recommending that consumers replace caps and lids on plastic bottles and containers they recycle.

Can soda bottle caps be recycled.

Traditionally city recycling programs and other recycling centers have asked consumers to remove the lids before recycling their soda and water bottles. Place these bottle caps in an aluminum soup can until it is half full. On the other hand removing the caps can cause them to be improperly sorted early on in the recycling process. The bottles float and the caps sink making it easy to separate the two materials.

The association of plastic recycler s message is to empty. This is part of an effort to increase the amount of material collected and to avoid sending consumers conflicting messages. Your bottle caps should then be grouped in cans of similar metal so they can be processed all together so put your aluminum caps in an aluminum can and your steel caps into steel. Once recycled caps can be turned into storage bins shipping containers mixing bowls spatulas shovels watering cans and much more.

Assuming you left the cap on the bottle the first step in the recycling process is to separate the bottles and caps into their individual resins. Many municipal recycling programs throughout the united states still do not accept plastic lids tops and caps even though they take the containers that accompany them. You can collect plastic bottle caps and other hard plastic items smaller than a fist in a large plastic bottle or jar to be recycled as mixed plastic but this is only accepted in certain. Once you ve filled a can halfway with caps crimp the can closed so the caps won t fall out during recycling collection or processing at the facility.

The material recovery facility mrf will use a pressurized system to expel caps and flatten bottles. Drop caps and lids into cans of matching metal for example steel lids into steel cans and aluminum caps into aluminum cans. They fall through the spaces in between conveyor belts at the central landfill s recycling facility and cause mechanical problems. If your recycling service doesn t accept loose metal caps and lids in your curbside bin ask your provider if this technique would be acceptable.

The reason is that lids typically are not made from the same kind of plastic as their containers and therefore should not be mixed together with them.