Recycle your plastic bottle caps

Have you ever wondered why you can’t toss the caps into the recycling bin along with the plastic bottles? It’s always been a bit confusing to me too. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Plastic caps are made from a different type of plastic and have a different melting point than bottles, so they can contaminate a batch during the recycling process and ruin the whole load.
2. Plastic bottles are crushed and baled together, and if caps are left on it makes it harder to compress the bottles. This creates trapped air and possibly water in the bottles.
3. Because of their small size, the caps can create difficulties during the sorting process, like ending up mixed in with pieces of glass and causing problems with glass recycling.
4. Caps create a litter issue at recycling facilities and beyond, and can be dangerous if wildlife ingest them.

So, was I thrilled to hear about Aveda's Caps Recycling Program! You can save all of your bottle caps and bring them to any Aveda store for recycling. Aveda will then have them recycled into new caps and containers for Aveda products. On their website, Aveda explains what types of caps they accept—they basically take any rigid plastic caps. They are also encouraging schools to participate

This effort is a great example of a company taking responsibility for a waste issue that they contribute to and coming up with a workable solution that also includes community members getting involved. Of course plastic is not the most favorable material to use at all, but the more that consumers and companies can find ways to reduce plastic waste while also finding markets to recycle it, we're on the right track.

So, take your caps to Aveda and thank them for doing this! While you're there, you'll probably be enticed into buying something, which I'm sure is something they're after as well.