But what to do with the bottle caps? Most of us probably toss them into the trash can, not realizing they can be recycled.

It’s not just drink bottle caps that can be recycled, but plastic shampoo caps, peanut butter jar caps, toothpaste caps and the caps on gummy-bear vitamins.

Last year on World Ocean Day, June 8, a bottle-cap recycling program was launched on Oahu. Goodwill Industries of Hawaii collects the items at four of its locations: Beretania, Kapahulu, Mapunapuna and Wahiawa.

Goodwill says it receives an estimated 200 pounds of bottle caps per month but could take more. Its own employees are contributing their bottle caps from the lunchroom.

There is no financial incentive for recycling plastic caps — just the satisfaction of doing good for the environment.

The Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii, or BEACH, is working to educate the public, while other Goodwill partners, including Matson, Pepsi Beverages Co., Young Bros. and ETA Global Logistic Solutions, help with transportation to Lucent Polymers in Indiana, where the caps are re-purposed into new resin.

If you don’t want to recycle your bottle caps, then at least make sure they don’t end up in the ocean or waterways, where they can harm marine life. Bottle caps and lids are among the top 10 litter items found on beaches and washed ashore, according to BEACH co-founder Suzanne Frazer.

Because they tend to be colorful — red, yellow and orange — and because they’re small and float easily, bottle caps look like food to young seabirds.

"We decided to start this campaign to save the seabirds," Frazer said.

It would be ideal if Oahu’s beaches had recycling bins, but they don’t. Bottle caps, among other marine debris, make their way to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and other places via ocean currents.

Photographer David Littschwager shot a photo of a Laysan albatross chick after a necropsy at Kure Atoll in July 2004. Cause of death: plastic.

The photo shows the chick’s stomach full of cigarette lighters and other debris. Sharp edges of plastic had perforated the bird’s stomach, which in turn resulted in a destroyed lung. More than 10 ounces of plastic was found in the chick.

Other photographers have captured similar images, documenting this ongoing tragedy.

The alarming message in all the photos is the same: Small plastic pieces are killing albatross chicks. We need to see these images, even years later, to be reminded of the consequences of our carelessness.

The good news is many schools are getting involved in recycling bottle caps.

Interestingly enough, more bottle caps seemed to start littering the shoreline once the bottle redemption bill went into effect in 2005, said Frazer, who remembers walking along Hanauma Bay and scooping up quite a few. It turned out some guy was collecting plastic bottles from trash bins at the bay and chucking the caps along the beach.

Caps accepted for recycling are Nos. 2 (HDPE), 4 (LDPE) and 5 (PP), but you probably won’t be able to find those numbers imprinted on the cap itself. They need to be clean and free of paper and labels. Coffee cup lids, pumps, and lids with metal are not accepted.

For more information, visit www.b-e-a-c-h.org/recycling.html.

Nina Wu writes about environmental issues. Reach her at 529-4892 or nwu@staradvertiser.com.