Keep On Top Of Recycling

Recycling Bottle Tops

Councils will not take them and it is said that mixing plastic bottle tops with normal plastic recycling can contaminate the materials, deeming it unsuitable.

So, what can be done with all those bottle tops?

Take to a Lush shop:

Lush, the fresh handmade cosmetics company, now recycle plastic bottle tops.

Since August 2011, Lush has been collecting plastic bottle tops from their customers. Lush ran a campaign in their shops for a week to highlight the scheme and why they decided to do it - you can watch a video about our motivations here.
Lush also raised money for a fantastic charity called Surfers Against Sewage - who work in the UK to clean up our coastline.  One of their campaigns is called 'Return to Offenders'.  If rubbish on the beach is identifiable they send it back to the companies who made it.

Lush accept bottle tops in all of their shops - they must not include any foil, metal, or inserts.  The bottle tops are sorted at the factory by hand so the more that come back to them correct the better.  Lush shops receive deliveries from the Lush HQ once a week and they take the bottle tops back with them to the HQ in Poole.  The bottle tops are then sorted, washed and used as feedstock for their black pots, which are also made in Poole.  Lush have collected over 2.5 tonnes of bottle tops so far, which is a fantastic result.

Continuing the cycle, the black pots can also be returned to Lush (once used), where they are then recycled once again.  Lush also offer a free face mask pot for every 5 pots returned, as a nice little incentive to recycle.

Here at WasteConnect, Zoe had the idea of starting a plastic bottle top collection.

Using recycled materials: a coffee tin, a plastic bag and recycled paper for the labels, here is the end result.

For Charity:

G.H.S Recycling Ltd collect and recycle milk bottle tops, though there is a minimum weight of 500kg for collection.
For more information, click here.

For Art and Craft/Reuse:

If you are into arts and craft, why not try making any of the following from your bottle tops:

Mirror frame
Photo frame
Fridge magnets.  Click here for an example of some very cute photo fridge magnets, made from bottle caps!
Candle holder
Jewellery
Art
Door curtain
A homemade game. Here is a brilliant idea, especially if you have children.

If you know of others ways to recycle bottle tops, or have any great ideas for re-use, we’d love to hear them.

Email Zoe, zah@e4environment.co.uk.