container cap recycling FYI

[aquaphase]

http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/caps.asp

I, for one, didn't know that most container caps didn't get recycled. Hell, just about a quarter of my recycling mass is the tops of the waters and vitamin waters I drink. I'll be throwing them in a separate bag from now on for sure.

[aquaphase]

also just found out from an eco-engineer friend that if a bottle has a top on it, it often will end up in a landfill because it is just too much labor to twist the top off. wtf?

[monet2u]

wow

That's insane. I'm going to call my local recycle center and inquire about the caps and bottles being thrown out that have caps. I can't believe it.

but that's a cool program and if my bottle caps aren't recycled at the waste center, I'm going to aveda.


I just called my recycle center and they said. If the top is attached to the bottle the entire thing is recycled as one piece of plastic. However, if the top is loose, then the cap falls thru the cracks and isn't recycled.

So, I'm not sure what your friend means about taking off the tops of the bottles during recycling because (at least) here they recycle the entire piece as one plastic.

So that means if you ever end up wiht just a cap, save it and take it to aveda.

[mere1975]

I love you, Aveda. You smell good and you recycle plastic caps!

- Mere "but why do you make my hairline break out?" 1975

[katie]

i guess it's time to come up with a crafting project that uses bottle caps.

[mere1975]

i guess it's time to come up with a crafting project that uses bottle caps.

- Mere "Jason Jones is married to Samantha Bee" 1975

[katie]

- Mere "Jason Jones is married to Samantha Bee" 1975

haha, bee-jones.

[Dalya]

i heard they slice the top of the bottle off, thus wasting the part of the bottle the cap is screwed to. in dallas, anyway. i need to start saving the caps separately though...

[monet2u]

yeah I bet it comes down to the level of recycling your town does...SF is pretty agressive and we can pretty much put anything in the bin w/out even separating items (paper, plastic, etc.)

[Dalya]

yeah Dallas finally lets you throw everything in together.

Supposedly in Toronto you actually get fined for recycling. (I think this might be true in NYC, too.) You're only allowed to produce a certain amount of trash per week and you are to recycle everything else. So everyone has a compost pile pretty much (which works a lot faster than a landfill) and recycles every kind of plastic.

You know what else is bad? People throw away toxic waste all the time, like paint and batteries. And there is really no way to stop anyone. And all that shit gets underground. Mmmm battery acid water.

[monet2u]

yeah we just started being able to recycle batteries by putting them on top of the bin in a plastic bag. before that I would jsut save them up until I found a place that took them. It's actually now illegal to throw them out in the trash...but you're right, who's gonna know.

[mere1975]

A lot of places -- Kinko's and PetsMart I know -- are starting to take your printer cartridges and cell phones for recycling.

And PetsMart uses proceeds for pet charities.

- Mere "even my company is collecting cell phones and toner for the Chiapas Project so it pays to recycle" 1975