Question: What should I do with the caps on the plastic water bottles I want to recycle?
Answer: Remove the caps from the bottles and dispose of the caps in your regular rubbish bin (the gray cart, if you are on an automated three-bin pickup route), said Markus Owens, spokesman for the city’s Department of Environmental Services. They will be processed into energy at Oahu’s HPOWER plant, he said.
Don’t place the caps in the blue recycling cart, he emphasized. That just makes more work for the recycling facilities, where they will be sorted into the trash.
The caps must be removed from the bottles to ensure that the bottles are empty. When left on the bottles, caps hinder efficient compaction of plastic bottles into bales at the recycling center, he said. If bottles contain any liquid, that skews the weight of the bale.
Many Kokua Line readers have asked where they can recycle the caps along with the bottles, but we couldn’t find a recycling company that pays for the caps; the three we checked all require that they be removed prior to recycling.
Owens said he did not know of any place that would pay for the used caps either. “Quite simply put, these caps are made of a lower-quality plastic; we’re not aware of any recycler in the island that takes them back for recycling,” he said.
In the past, artists or schools have collected caps for “recycled art” projects, but we could find no current such collection drives. You might like to check with schools or educational groups in your area to see whether any could use them.
Your distaste for these leftover caps also might nudge you away from bottled water, consumption of which is linked to rising marine debris. For more on that subject, see the website for the National Oceanic and Administration’s Marine Debris Program, at 808ne.ws/2fe5tm3.
Speaking of recycling …
The popular Going Green community recycling events are no longer accepting scrap metal, coordinator Rene Mansho announced. Going Green events will continue to collect e-waste such as computers, monitors, printers, scanners and a limit of one TV per car. “We also continue to recycle all kinds of batteries, used cooking oil, HI-5 beverage containers, used eyeglasses and hearing aids, usable clothing and household items, prom dresses, women’s business apparel and accessories, blankets and towels,” she said. The events also collect canned goods and other nonperishable food for the Hawaii Food Bank.
The next Going Green event is Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Campbell High School, 91-980 North Road in Ewa Beach. “The public can drive through (the school parking lot) … and be greeted by cheerful volunteers who unload vehicles of donations of recyclable materials, knowing that nothing goes into the landfills,” Mansho said. “In addition, the students take very seriously their responsibility to be stewards for the environment. So exciting!”
Besides scrap metal, items that are not accepted include tires, paint, motor oil and other hazardous fluids, cardboard and other paper, plastics (other than HI-5 beverage containers), wood and bulky items.
If your school, church or community organization wants to host a Going Green event, call Mansho at 291-6151.
Mahalo
I would like to give a big mahalo to whoever found our charge card at Home Depot on Oct. 28.
I picked up some wood and paid at the register. I did not realize until that Sunday that my charge card was missing. I called Home Depot, and the manager had it on hold for me.
You made my day to avoid all the hassle of closing the account.
Thank you so much for being such an honest person.
Mahalo for turning it in to authorities at Home Depot. May the good Lord bless you! It’s nice to know we have wonderful people here. — Much appreciated, H. Sasuga
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
