In the last few years, Aveda Cosmetics started recycling plastic soda bottle caps. They made a strong case for the fact that land and marine animals suffer when the mothers mistake these things for food and feed them to their young, accidentally killing the babies. Unfortunately, Aveda stopped taking these recently. Not all recyclers will take these small things.
Any ideas as to where these can be recycled or how they can be used en mass? Please, can somebody give me a workable solution to this almost unaddressed problem?
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If you go to Earth911.com and search for where you can recycle the lids, you'll find an answer! (I'm an environmental educator, and applaud your willingness to recycle - when you find out what litter does to our land and habitat, it just breaks your heart, so thanks for being so responsible!)
Another option is to reuse the lids as decorative pieces (glue several pieces and sizes, all the same color or different, into a frame) or game pieces, or donate them to after-school programs and encourage kids to make things for Earth Day ("snakes", bugs, etc.); the activity could also include some education about the need for recycling!
You could make a tiddlywinks game using the bottle tops as point collections! If that makes sense.
I like the idea of Earth Day activities with the plastic bottle tops. I've been saving them for quite a while and have a table every year with Earth Day. This year it has been postponed which gives me time to work on Bottle Top Bats to hang in the yard. For kids to make, of course!
Thanks!
Melanie Felker
Huntsville Bat House Project
You can also check with your local waste company, they may not take the tops with the bottles, but you might be able to put them into your general recycle bin.
If you can't find a recycling place to take them, put them in your trash. As long as the trash goes to a landfill no animals or sea life can get to them.
I think the issue is that sometimes even if they start out in the landfill, they can eventually end up in the ocean. And plastic bags are really bad for the animals too. I saw a documentary about it. It's sad. :(
Sorry to disagree but birds and other animals pick them up and they can choke them to death if swallowed, so if you can dont send them to land waste please
I so wish that Horst Rechelbacher would never have sold his Aveda company to the conglomerate Estee Lauder company. :-( As soon as Lauder took it over they slowly began becoming more and more unsustainable and that's why I quit selling Aveda products in my salon (and my salon was a Concept Salon) before I retired.
In any event, if you can't find a recycling center that will take them in your area you could call around to retirement homes and assorted types of schools who most likely would be more than happy to use them for crafts.
Our waste/recycle collector will accept the caps if they are ON the bottles/containers, but if they are off, I think the automatic separator separates them as trash. Check with your Township recycling person.
You can go to www.terracycle.com/
I love Terracycle, but you have so many pounds of recyclables before you can mail them to them. It's best to ask your friends and family to also participate and then it's a win win for everyone.
Seems to me they could be great educational toys, for kids old enough to not put them in their mouths. They could count them, add and subtract them, and if you have an assortment, they could group them by color or size.
Google "buddy benches". We collect bottle caps @ work as part of a (university) campus-wide recycling initiative. Once we've collected 400 lb., we turn them over to a company that recycles them into benches &/or tables for schools. They take pop/water bottle caps, cottage cheese lids, laundry detergent lids, etc.
I wish you could provide a website where I could donate. I couldn't find any sites that has this kind of setup.
You would have to look for a site in your local area. You could try asking our members by submitting a question directly to them. They are unlikely going to notice this feedback on a years old question.
www2.thriftyfun.com/
Good luck, and let us know if you find one in your area and would like to share the location with us.
"Buddy Benches" turns up a whole host of links to benches being used by kids who need buddies. Google "buddy benches made with bottle caps".
Google "buddy benches made with bottle caps". Maybe you can find something that way.
Wonder what it would look like if you drilled a hole through the cap strung Christmas lights through each bottle cap screw it on the empty bottle not a 2 liter reg size soda bottle hung them up for parties. You can can fill it with cotton batting to give it a different look.and I would spray paint each cap what ever color light it will be or just use silver.
I use the water top to play bingo with my students.
Also to write vocabulary that they have to learn
What about making a toy out of them? Paint them different colors add magnets to the bottom and they can stack them night different things with them for older children 5 and Up as long as they don't put it in their mouth. Or use a old frame put a few wooden dowels drill holes in caps paint different colors make the math toy that you slide to add numbers together and help your child to add.
Thought of another idea for a toy use some strong string and paint them different colors sell them on like beads make it like a snake for little kids to play with make it as long as you want or short as you want you could figure out how to make a head of a snake out of some sewing material paint the eyes on it then stuff it with cotton batting glue it on the first cap. Oh add a handle for them too pull it with.. Like my drawing I added. It's not great but a quick drawing as an example for visualization.
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