February 25, 2010
Does The Recycling Center Reject A Plastic Bottle If You Leave The Cap On It?
I have heard from several people that the recycling center rejects (meaning throw out) any plastic bottles that still have the caps on them. I always thought this was absurd and looked online with little success. If anyone could provide some insight or final solution to this answer and hopefully a source of where they obtained this info that would be great.
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Comments on Does The Recycling Center Reject A Plastic Bottle If You Leave The Cap On It? »
You’re supposed to take the caps off because they are made of a different type of plastic than the bottle (because they are subjected to twisting–they have to be made of a stronger material). The caps are not the #1 and #2 (in the triangle on the bottom) type of plastic. I don’t know what they actually do with the bottles with the cap on. It would be a lot of labor for them to sort them and then remove the cap themselves. The consumer is supposed to do it.
No.
Its apparently because they are of a different type of plastic thats not recyclable. My local recycling centre says it recyles all the plastic i leave there, caps, packaging, bottles, the lot. Dont know if i believe it, i hope so!!
The tops have to be removed so the bottles can be compressed, for easier handling. But they do not reject them it just makes it easier for them.
Our recycling center does it for us. Since nobody in our area removes the caps the recycling center just does it as they check how well we sorted the plastics.
As far as what you can recycle.. different recycling centers accept different things. My own recycling center (in a very small town) only accepts #1 and #2 (all colors) and #2 plastic bags (as well as different kinds of papers, catalogs, cardboard). My center does NOT take #5 plastics (what yogurt cups and sour cream cups are made of). Check with your local facility to see what they accept.
I always smush my bottles down and put the cap back on so they stay crushed & are easier to handle and take up less space. I don’t think they throw them out if the cap is on. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking, though.