plastic-tops

Plastic Tops are the new Butts!

Plastic bottle tops are quickly eclipsing cigarette butts as the number one item found on the world’s beaches.
The biggest concern right now is that many people have no idea what happens to plastic bottle tops, not even knowing that there is a problem at all.

During my project research about why plastic tops are not being recycled properly here is what I found:

  • Very often, when a plastic bottle enters a recycling facility with its cap on, the top is chopped off and disposed of in landfills because most machinery is not able to process the small caps.
  • Plastic caps and lids can jam processing equipment at recycling facilities, and the plastic containers with tops still on may not compact properly during the recycling process. They can also present a safety risk for recycling workers.
  • Most plastic bottles are baled for transport and if they don’t crack when baled, the ones with tightly fastened lids can explode when the temperature increases.
  • Plastic caps are made from a type of plastic called polypropylene. That’s normally with the three chasing arrows as the number five and letter PP underneath that. Plastic bottles, on the other hand, are usually made from a different kind of plastic called polyethylene terepthalate, or number one and PET. If processed together, these plastics would contaminate each other.

Plastic bottles and caps are NOT to be recycled together

Another fact is that plastic bottles are usually made into hundreds of everyday products, being much more commercially valuable. They can be used for fleece jackets, carpeting, comforter fill, lumber for outdoor decking and more. And polypropylene, plastic bottle tops, can be made into things like garden rakes, brooms, and ice scrapers, usually sturdy things. So depending on where you live, councils may decide to collect the plastic materials based on whether there is a market for it or not.

Quite tough! But the good news is, if people get informed and in some way are made conscious of the need to ‘take their tops off’, there are companies out there willing to collect and recycle them.