Bottle Caps Hard To Recycle And Bad For Seabird Chicks

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Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii volunteers comb shorelines for bottle caps, many of which cannot be processed by recyclers. The Hawaii Kai-based group will sponsor the talk ‘The Impact of Plastics on the Health of our Ocean’ Monday at the state Capitol. Photos courtesy of B.E.A.C.H.

Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii is on a new campaign to recycle bottle caps, and as part of the World Oceans Day effort, the Hawaii Kai-based group will sponsor a talk by Anthony Andrady on “The Impact of Plastics on the Health of our Ocean” at 6:30 p.m. next Monday (June 8) in the state Capitol auditorium.

Andrady has done extensive research on micro-plastic particles, is on the U.N. Environmental Program Committee and is a senior scientist at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina. (He also will speak at 6:30 p.m. June 9 at Windward Community College.)

Bottle caps are among the top 10 items found on the beach,according to B.E.A.C.H. co-founder Suzanne Frazer.

“It’s littered by beachgoers, and it is coming in as marine debris out of the Great Pacific garbage patch,“she explained. “Albatross birds have been found feeding their chicks plastic including bottle caps and children’s toys. Anything brightly colored could be mistaken for food by an albatross.”

The group launched the campaign on Earth Day,April 22,at UH Manoa.The collected caps were then taken to Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Spa at Ala Moana Center so they can be turned into something new.

Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii volunteers comb shorelines for bottle caps

The types of bottle caps that can be recycled are the rigid, hard plastic ones. Caps made of more than one layer of plastic are not accepted, nor are pump sprayers and plastic lids from margarine tubs.

“Many people don’t know this, but you are not supposed to put bottle caps in recycle bins,” added Frazer. “Bottle caps are made of a different type of plastic from recyclable bottles, which have a triangle and the number 1 or 2 on the bottom. The caps are usually a No. 5, and they melt at a different temperature so they cannot be made into the same items. Otherwise it causes a problem for the recycling facility.”

For more information, call 393-2168 or 554-2902, or log on to b-e-a-c-h.org.