Ever wonder what to do with those plastic “twist on” bottle caps (like from water bottles)? The Sneakery (612 NW 65th St.) has found a solution:
I’m probably not the only one who cringes every time I throw a cap in the trash when I put a bottle in the recycling bin. I don’t understand all the politics and science of recycling, but thankfully someone has found a way to get these caps into the proper recycling facility. Aveda salons has started an ongoing program called “Recycle Caps with Aveda” to address this issue and I’ve started a collection at The Sneakery which I plan on taking to the drop-off point downtown. I’d like to invite anyone else who wants to see their caps go somewhere with a purpose to drop them off with us. The Sneakery is not affiliated with Aveda in any way, this is just something I heard about and want to participate.
Thanks Drea for emailing us.
You know, I HAD been feeling guilty about having to toss those caps in the garbage, but I didn't realize it until now. This sounds like a great idea!
Thanks for taking this on! It's really bugged me that we can't recycle caps through the city. I will add a little side container to the recyle bin where I can put these!
What a shame. Instead of focusing on what to do with the bottle caps, we should be focusing on using less plastic bottles. There is no reason in the world to drink bottled water, our Seattle water is delicious.
rodgowdy – it isn't just bottled water. I have caps from Diet Coke bottles.
Depends on where you are. My dad's tap water tastes like rust. I have to bring a bottle when I go over to visit. Some places seem to have the worst tap water. Not sure why that is.
This is a great thing for them to do. Thank you Sneakery! Thank you, Aveda! I'll gather those bottle caps!
Well, one reason might be the poisons that are present. I drink filtered water, it's even more delicious.
Katadyn and others make water bottles with built-in filters. REI and other places carry them. Perfect for traveling in Third World areas such as Cairo, Cambodia or Tacoma.
Hmm. Okay, if I want to drink water in my car, I must bring it with me. I have several reusable H20 bottles, but their bases are too wide for our cupholders. I have yet to find any that are narrow enough, but don't tip over upon acceleration. So, I guess I should sell my car, and buy one with big cupholders?
And my particular Seattle location does not have “delicious” water. If it weren't for Brita, I don't know what I would have done.
Also, consider this a good reason to check out Sneakery if you haven't already. Very cool place! I've purchased several pairs of shoes there, including my purple striped pirate shoes! woo!
If Aveda salons have figured out how to make these items work with recycling, wouldn't it be a more effective solution to get the city to adopt those same practices? Seems like the fewer restrictions on what can and can't be recycled, the better. It's nice that this company is offering to do this, but that doesn't seem like the ideal long-term solution.
Just don't drive down there to exclusively recycle the caps. Would kind of defeat the point.
I've been contracting for Waste Management, one of the city's recycle vendors (and the one that services Ballard). I didn't know this before I started there, but the reason they can't take caps is because they get stuck in the gears/conveyor parts of the machinery during the sorting process. Same with loose plastic bags, and any lids under 3 inches.
There are lots of other little educational things like that I've learned that don't get talked about widely. It can be very confusing to the public why this or that cannot be recycled… and also, the commodities markets for recyclables changes often, so one year a certain kind of plastic is ok and the next one it's not.
You do realize, don't you, that these are simply *bottlecaps*, right?
Blame it on Nickels. Pretty soon he will want a tax on these plastic bottle caps. Your only option will be reusable or even paper bottle caps.
Yeah. But how many do you toss out in any given week? It adds up.
A lot of places make re-usable water bottles. Are these ones with built in filters about the size of the regular bottles of water?
As somebody mentioned below, many re-usable water bottles don't fit in car cup holders. Those same re-useable bottles are hard for me to carry in my short, chubby fingers.
Great idea, SeaSpider, but if the size doesn't work it doesn't work. When somebody makes re-usable bottles I can carry around I'll buy one,
How many do I use a week? Maybe one. Ten times more energy is wasted making all those bottles you use than is saved by recycling the caps.
OMG!!! How did people drink water before cup holders? Try getting out of your car for 5 minutes to get a drink. Geeeeeez
I reuse the bottles for tap water but still end up with about 8, or so, caps to toss out in a week.
You must be dehydrated.
Collective madness!
If you cared about the environment or had paid attention in school you would know that the best place for plastic is the landfill.
If there's something that will reduce the amount of junk that ends up in landfills, I, for one, am all for it.
I agree the best thing to do is to not use plastic in the first place. If you do use plastic however the best and proper resting place is a landfill.
Very cool! Thanks Sneakery!
I've heard of drop-in cup holders that allow you to hold larger cups/bottles. Quick search found this but I bet there's more out there: http://www.roxiesshop.com/custom.em?pid=510181
seriously? why?
Thats funny I thought you would have drank the tears of babys and the homeless, not filtered, huh.
It's not just about water caps. Pretty much every bottle has a cap. These are the kinds accepted in this program: any plastic “twist on” caps. Some examples are; water bottles, soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles, ketchup bottles, and shampoo/ conditioner bottles. I don't buy bottled water and have already come up with about a dozen caps in a week. Anybody out there drink soy milk? That has a cap too sometimes! Anybody use toothpaste? cap!
ah, more intelligent discourse eh? ok…
Your presence here is laughable, but you, are not funny.
WOW! A dozen? Your carbon footprint must be the size of Bigfoot's or something.
wow, Rose, I'd hazard a guess that 'bigfoot's' carbon footprint is incredibly smaller than your own…just saying…seems he'd be about carbon neutral as possible, short of invisible, lol.
Oh “sweet” rose, i'm a single gal who walks to work and bikes just about everywhere else. I do all the good things a person's supposed to do and more. The caps I collected were from other people whose caps I asked for (friends, people I saw throwing them away) and the mere fact that I'm going out of my way to get people to recycle should show that I care about reducing my carbon footprint.
It is about carbon. When we make plastic we are sequestering carbon in long chain molecules that are very stable. Ever act of recycling releases more carbon into the atmosphere. In fact making and using plastic is one of the most carbon efficient things we can do. Bio solutions like paper bags and recycled products release much more carbon than plastic.