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You finish a bottle of water, rinse it out, toss it and the cap into the recycling bin, take it out so it gets in the truck. You’ve done your job.
You’re a good recycler, right? Apparently not.
The caps are made of different material than the bottles, and most recycling companies are just throwing them into a landfill.
That’s according to Anna Chan, a local woman also known as the Lemon Lady, is working with people from throughout the San Ramon Valley and Tri-Valley to change that. It’s more than just the caps from water and soda, she said.
“Stand in your grocery store and look around,” she said. “It’s salad dressing, milk containers, toothpaste. There’s just millions of them.”
Chan, who considers every day to be Earth Day, says many of the plastic caps find their way into the water and wind up in the Pacific Ocean, where they’ve formed a mass.
Most municipalities in the region contract with a recycling firm that doesn’t recycle lids and tops.
Chan recently met with Danville Rotarian Scott Singeley, who’s pushing for his organization to take charge and put out cans to collect the caps to be properly recycled. Chan says she’ll even provide the cans.
There are alternatives. Hair care company Aveda is encouraging schools across the country to hold their own recycling drives for caps and Aveda will foot the shipping bill. For people to recycle directly with Aveda, the company has a site that can direct them to the nearest facility by zip code at
http://www.aveda.com/templates/door/locator.tmpl.
A Valley Waste Management representative said she often refers people to www.earth911.com as well.
Chan says some contractors do recycle lids, which include everything from spray cans to shampoo bottles and even the caps from markers. She says the first step is to check with the recycler directly and ask them.
PEOPLE TAKE YOUR PLASTICS TO CRV STATION AT THE LUCKYS SHOPPING CENTER. REMOVE THE PLASTIC CAPS, PUT THE BOTTLE THROUGH THE AUTO COUNTER, GET YOUR FULL CRV BACK, THEN PUT ALL THE CAPS AND OTHER PLASTIC PRODUCTS IN THE CRV STATIONS CANS FOR WEIGHING AND GET PAID BY WEIGHT FOR YOUR CAPS AND OTHER PLASTIC PRODUCTS. BEEN THIS WAY FOR YEARS. STOP BEING A SHEEP AND FOLLOWING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE DOES.
We used to do this with all our plastic bottles, until the lines got so long at the CRV station that it took too long to get to the machines! We could come back numerous times on a Saturday and the lines were still too long! We gave up on that.
Is there another CRV station in town to go to? Anyone know?
To the Editor- Why are you rinsing out a water bottle? Isn’t that a waste of another precious resource, namely water? Why not just replace the cap on the empty bottle and toss it in the recycle bin or better yet, don’t purchase bottled water in the first place and use a reusable water bottle. Pleasanton water is very good, but even if you do not like the idea of tap water, you can always put a filter on your tap or use a Brita.
Anonymous comments:
Please think beyond the water bottle. Plastic caps and lids are on far more products than only water bottles. Think plastic toothpaste, shampoo, salad dressing, mayonnaise, peanut butter, laundry detergent, prescription bottles. I’m sure you get the picture, by now. So…now what?
http://www.thelemonlady.blogspot.com CLICK EARTH DAY RACCOON for all my research about plastic caps and lids! Thank you.
Contact: AnnaAndAva@gmail.com for a collection container!
Curious, you certainly don’t know your water.
Pleasanton water uses so much high mineral well water
that it clogs the plumbing, builds up on the dishes, leaves water spots on the cars
– esp. if they get the overspray from the irrigation.
I had hoped the new filtration system on Santa Rita would help, but maybe it is not yet in service?
When they get too bad, I take my shower valve and nozzles apart now and then and clean by soaking in vinegar vinegar. Also have to clean the lawn sprinkler nozzles when they get clogged.
Does anyone know how to get the white spots off the car paint?