Bring Plastic Caps To Wahiawa Goodwill

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A local environmental group is coordinating a campaign to recycle plastic bottle caps, and the Goodwill store in Wahiawa is one for four Oahu Goodwill sites serving as collection points.

The redemption center is located at 823 California Ave. and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The caps will be processed into plastic pellets that can be re-used in manufacturing. For more information, call 393-2168, or visit b-e-a-c-h.org.

“It’s a breakthrough in recycling,“said Sommerlyn Leong, a teacher at St.

Elizabeth School.“It opens a whole new way of helping the environment in Hawaii. It’s more readily available for people and leaves us with more choices.”

The recycling effort is spearheaded by Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii to keep the tiny, colorful plastic caps and lids away from sea birds. According to B.E.A.C.H. spokes-woman Suzanne Frazer, a study in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands found that all Laysan and black-footed albatrosses are feeding their chicks plastic debris they find floating on the ocean’s surface. The chicks then die of starvation, blockages, dehydration and lacerations from ingesting the caps and other plastic.

Accepted for recycling are caps and lids with the symbol 2 (HDPE), 4 (LDPE) or 5 (PP) on the containers. These include caps from drinks, shampoo, food products, detergent, medicine, supplements, spray cans, toothpaste and coffee cans. Not acceptable are metal, Styrofoam or clear plastic lid covers from drinking cups, pumps or sprayers, and any caps and lids that are dirty.