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Collecting Plastic Bottle Tops
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Posted By:
Sarah
Aug 27, 2004
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How about some hoax-busting on the stories about collecting a child's weight in empty Walkers Crisps Packets to fund an operation and the one that is currently going round Britain like wildfare - a hoax about collecting a wheelchair's weight in plastic milk bottle tops or other plastic bottle tops to get someone a wheelchair?
Category: Scams; Replies: 215 |
Comments
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Page 7 of 11 pages ‹ First < 5 6 7 8 9 > Last › |
Rex D.
in Milwaukee, WI
Member
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 | 01:10 PM
Thanks Liam. Where I am, they recycle both the tops and the bottles and when you put them in the recycling bin, you are not asked to seperate the bottles from the tops, so that is a little different from what I am used to. I don't see why they don't do the same wherever it is you are. Who knows, who cares. I'm looking at it this way, if it is indeed not a hoax, then at least something is getting recycled that otherwise wouldn't be, no matter how small it is or how low the value, it's less trash taking up space and funking up the environment. |
Dominic Shields
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 | 01:30 AM
Rex, where you live, what is done sounds logical, and is actually all I'm suggesting. |
Liam Murphy
in manchester
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 | 12:37 PM
it does indeed "sound" logical but i do feel unlikely.
First are you sure your recycling right Rex? I'm assuming you live in milwaukee, and if not, sorry but, where? Niether blue nor red bins want the caps off plastic bottles. Want them removed in fact.
http://www.mpw.net/Pages/MilwaukeeRecycles
I'm not saying its impossible but there would be considerable difficulties. I can't recommend this report off the scottish agricultural college enough to fully explain problems of first plastic recycling in general and also with mixed plastic collections.
http://www1.sac.ac.uk/info/External/Publications/MiscellaneousReports.asp
The setting up a plastic recycling business report, chapters 4-6.
If the tops are left on the bottles they would have to be removed by the MRP (materials recovery plant)and dangerous when it comes to compacting bottles for baling. Then both bottles and tops would need separating into polymer type (bottles either PET or HPTE; tops either HDPE, PP, LDPE). Tops could not stay on for separation process if sorted by hand or floatation method (3 types willl float at different levels - density). Next MRP might separate different colours of polymer type to attract better price thouogh probabluy only profittable with clear vs tinted PET bottles.
Then remember the low vlue and/or weight of the tops and the fact MRP probably contractor. Take on these extra costs for soo little return? Not if a business and not in milwaukee (only bottles of type 1& 2, PET & HDPE, are collected).
Tops and their security rings are nothing more than contamintion.
Sorry Rex don't think your tops are recycled and are either landfill or burnt, probably.
Collecting bottles is barely viable for councils. Already have stretched budgets and even Recoup believes best practice would meant costs of waste management stay the same (including revenue after sale of plastic). Collecting tops (and other plastic) is not viable without large tax increases for councils and unprofitable for companies.
Gotta be a charity and hope is has positive cultural benefits like questioning plastic use and plastic waste. Maybe help us along the path to mixed plastic collection coz that would require us to know about 7ish different plastic types and contamination. Require us have several different bins and to sort, clean and compact all the plastic to make it viable. Then we'd have to swallow more tax to pay for all the collection schemes.
All that be easier if the UK particularly had already been moe involved in plastic recycling say with bottle tops
(ps from manchester) |
Rex D.
in Milwaukee, WI
Member
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 | 05:24 PM
That is the first I've heard. That may very well be correct, and I hope it's not, but everyone in Milwaukee Co. got a green letter in the mail about the new recycling proceedures and it stated that it was unnessecary to remove the caps, but this was a few years ago and might have changed since then. I nor anybody else I know takes the caps off, in fact, I crush the bottle to get all the air and put the cap on to keep it crushed so that there is more room in the trash or recycling bin, whichever. That first link didn't work for me, but I will go to the site and check it out.
Also, why make the caps out of a plastic that is not safe to recycle? That's retarded. They should write up a new game plan and make the whole thing recyclable |
Liam
in Manchester
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 | 08:05 AM
hmmm wonder why the address didn't work. maybe will now
http://www.mpw.net/Pages/MilwaukeeRecycles.htm
sorry i seem to have been a little unclear. the tops and caps both safe to recycle but have to be done by different processes.
It is possible both could be used together and make plastic lumber but wouldn't be Best use of more valuable clear PET in the bottles. However plastic lumber may be a solution for bottle tops especially as a proportion of them are PP - a polymer needed to bind the lot together. Bouchons d'amour's reclyclor Eryplast make the tops into forklift pallets (hope called pallets in US).
Leaving tops on is dangerous only when it comes to compacting and baling the bottles. If people do not crush air outta bottle, like what you do, then could have few top explosions as they are compacted. |
Rex D.
in Milwaukee, WI
Member
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 | 01:02 PM
Oops! Looks like I shouldn't be leaving the tops on after all. Thanks Liam.
OK, both recyclable, but through a different process, but why not make the bottles and the tops out of the same plastic so that you can recycle them both at the same time? That is what I would have done, but maybe they tried already and it just didn't work, but I'm sure theres a way to work it out so that they are both the same plastic. |
Liam Murphy
in manchester
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 | 07:10 AM
possibly could but bottles might have to change a lot.
there are different types of plastic now because the drinks companies and the packagers want different qualities in their bottles and tops.
Bottles: flexible, transparent Caps: ridgid, coloured
- probably few important technical reaasons including ease of moulding.
Price will also be a factor PET much more expensive than HDPE, LDPE or PP.
however progress in that direction could be facilitated by more plastic recycling, more awareness and consumer pressure or otherwise, though unlikely, from an act of government.
before that though even it would help a lot if all plastics were labelled with the appropiate plastic mark 1-7, on the product itself ideally rather than the label.
Virtually none of the tops are labelled. I've collected nearly a hundred just casually over last few weeks. 3 have a plastic marking (2 LDPE, 1 HDPE). |
Andrew
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 | 01:54 AM
So we can summarise what we have learnt here as.
There are no known* charitys collecting milk bottle tops for wheelchairs. Similarly there is no known* charity collecting walkers crisps packets for wheelchairs.
There is only one known charity that makes money from recycling milk bottle tops. It gets a price of |
Liam
in Manchester, UK
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 | 08:50 AM
i just wanna add though that it is not impossible to collect bottle tops for charity.
it does happen on the continent in France because of the hard work and goodwill of thousands of volunteers. They collect plastic bottle tops and raise money for several things including sports wheelchairs.
http://www.bouchonsdamour.com/
(google translates reasonably well from french)
With a sympathetic plastic recycling company and 1000's of volunteers is it not possible elsewhere? |
Liam
in Manchester, UK
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 | 08:51 AM
sorry that link will take you to the site in french.
search 'bouhonsdamour' in google to be able to get translated version. |
sophie
in east sussex
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 | 05:07 AM
Not sure if this helps but I have been researching where my hospice can get rid of our milk bottle tops. Our day centre patients collect them and we are looking for an outlet?
http://www.letsrecycle.com/materials/plastics/news.jsp?story=3853 |
ben
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 | 05:39 AM
if it is a con, whats the point, we used to collect them at work still might(i quit after hitting boss)it all seemed real but you never can really tell, thinkin about it, it seems really stupid |
goopynuts
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 | 07:25 PM
If you deliver to me your own weight in bottle caps, I will buy you a wheelchair. Oh, one catch: I'm lying. |
I_was_thinkin_about_the_doorbel_R_U_"gonna"_ring_i
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 | 06:28 PM
I was searching to find out how much plastic weighs various ways,I ended up here and read some of these post from febuary I was just thinking that with all these various plastics that the whole idea behind the bottle cap event would be a hoax the garbage collector is thinkin of since lots of good hearted people stick the cap back on the empty jug.they do it as act of kindness to themselves which they see as a good deed to others as they pass it on.the theory has been in place since the 60's (or earlier)the returnable soda bottle had baseball player on the caps now the once mighty can opener makers read em and weep with these screw off plastic bottles.they're great for resealing the drink.Sounds like you folks are in europe and I'm finding alot more about plastic in the U.K. being recycled in Hong Kong and China than I see about recycling in the U.S. That's all in theory kind of a way to make the rest of the bottle easier to smash-manage (L.O.L.2myself)
There is no quote on the price of plastic anywhere you have to email everyone who wants to buy it.I just called the plastic nation,in Floprida the current quote was .18 U.S. pennies a pound and I have to have 40,000 pounds .They'll come to you anywhere in the world.They give you trailer and bailers free of course not everyone has a place to park a 40 footer.I am trying to research about the weight
35,000 to 40,000 pounds of compacted plastic in one trailer seems to me you could fill it up and
still be able to push it sideways with you hand
maybe not that light especially because of skid weight and trailer weight but still I'd start a hoax that you could pull that much plastic by hand on a string on a sheet without skids of wood.So I figured that roughly $7,000 US.bucks.
I just think it would still float on the road.It's fun to dropkick the two liters outside
in a parking lot. |
David B.
in Reading, England.
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 | 08:43 AM
I was suprised to see this thread come back up the forum list and just wondered what new information could have been added to the copious amounts of opinion and fact already presented, lol. But when I got here and read the previous post I found it to be a meaningless stream of conciousness spawned by the addled brain (this is your brain on drugs - lol) of someone who apparently thinks they are james joyce but isn't 'coz what they write isn't nearly so interesting. Why would anyone put so much effort into typing so much drivel into a forum box but not put any effort into actually thinking about what message they are trying to get across (if they are trying to get a message across, which is not a given as they may just be performing a little bit of intellectual masturbation by putting up something they think is insightful but more resembles something that fell wetly from their flabby bottoms) is beyond me! I mean I know it looks like monkey-derived random bashing at the keypad but just try it (like I am doing and without the aid of anything stronger than tea (earl-grey, hot (but with a dash of milk - Picard, I'm not))), it is frickin' difficult to keep it up for more than a few sentences without succumbing to the temptation to just cut and paste something from Wikipedia (the poster-boy for wordy, smug (but occasionally accurate) diatribes about nowt). Perhaps we could have a competition; who can write the longest, weirdest, most meaningless but seemingly insightful post (not that the last one seemed insightful, but to make the contest a bit more interesting). Extra points for most asides, least number of sentences, most unusual use of grammar, and subtlest mistake. |
Julie
in London
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 | 03:44 AM
http://www.ckpolymers.co.uk/Default.asp
Am also worried about this as I have been collecting milk bottle tops for a friend's grandaughter who is at a local school. When I asked how this operates, nobody seems to know (although admit I haven't contacted the school).
However, found the above site who say they buy plastic (including milk bottle tops). Don't know how viable it is but may be possible that the Company pay the school for the scrap plastic and then they pass the proceeds onto a charity who provide wheelchairs?
Come on, have some faith in human nature and people's kindness. |
Liz Owsley
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 | 12:32 AM
Naomi House collect the plastic bottle tops - it is on their website for all to see. |
lara
in nottingham
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 | 10:04 AM
HELLO EVERYONE! I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING PLASTIC BOTTLE TOPS FOR BOY WHO NEEDED A WHEELCHAIR BUT HE HAS NOW RECIEVED HIS CHAIR BUT I STILL HAVE ABOUT 100 OR MORE LEFT SOO IF THIS IS STILL CARRYING ON I HAVE LOTS I WISH TO DONATE PLEASE CONTACT ME ON MY EMAIL! LARA XXX
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kelly juleff
in cornwall
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 | 09:22 AM
pls email,if you know where i can send my bottle top lids, i have heard there is a company that recycles them to make new wheelchairs. i would like to be part of this, if you know the address pls email. many thanks and keep recycling. |
LOUISE
in BRISTOL
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 | 07:34 AM
I HAV LOTS OF BOTTLE TOPS THAT IVE COLLECTED FROM A CLUB WHERE I WORK,I WAS SAVEING THEM 4 A WOMAN THAT WANTED TO GET A WHEELCHAIR BUT I LOST HER NUMBER, PLEASE CAN U FIND ME A CHARITY THAT CAN TAKE THESE BOTTLE TOPS. |
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