What to do with all those bottle caps? Now we know.

Bottle caps are usually non-recyclable because they are made of a different plastic from most recyclable bottles. Fortunately, Aveda has just introduced a program to recycle all those bottle caps, keeping them out of rivers and oceans where they are eaten by birds who mistake them for food.

From Aveda:

The program accepts caps that are rigid polypropylene plastic, sometimes noted with a 5 in the chasing arrows recycling symbol. This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter. Excluded from collection are pharmaceutical lids and non rigid lids such as yogurt lids, tub lids (margarine, cottage cheese), and screw on lids that are not rigid. If you can bend or break the lid with your bare hands, then it does not meet the rigid plastic definition. Please do not include any metal lids or plastic pumps or sprayers. Unfortunately, too much of the wrong types of materials can contaminate the recycling process. We appreciate your efforts in keeping it clean!

Caps can be dropped off at any Aveda salon or store. They are also partnering with community schools to collect even more caps. If you’re interested in getting your school involved, or just want to learn more about the bottle cap program, you can get more information here.

Congratulations to Aveda for finding a solution to a significant recycling problem.

To read more about the problems with plastics and the oceans and wildlife, see the following sources:

The Plastic Debris Rivers to Sea Project

Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans @ Greenpeace

Ocean Debris @ National Geographic

Photo Credit: www.aveda.com

Sponsors: Studio Press: Genesis & Prose Child Theme