My nephew's elementary school collects all kinds of bottle caps and gets some kind of money for them. We always put our bottle caps is a basket and when we see Jacob we give them to him. They take every kind of bottle cap as long as it has a screw top, so I put in everything large or small from any bottles we use. Maybe you could check with your school to see if they know about this program.
By TheThreadLady from Eden Prairie, MN
Editor's Note: According to Snopes, there are no charities that accept plastic bottle caps, they are worthless. Some companies will collect them for recycling, such as Aveda. There are also recycling programs for bottle caps. Check with your local waste management company or municipal offices for more information.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I collect Coke plastic bottle caps for the Coke Rewards program. After entering the codes, I then have lots and lots of plastic bottle caps. Is there anything useful I can do with them?
If you have a problem with animals getting in your garden maybe you could spread them around. I don't think animals would like walking over something like that.
An old preschool trick. If you have different colored caps, make spare checkers with them. Red for one team (Coke) and green (Sprite) for the other. You could even use small stickers on the inside or out for when a checker is "kinged" and turned over. These are easy for small hands (or older, arthritic hands, too) to pick up and you don't care if one gets lost!
If you have friends that sew, you can make mini pincushions as nice little gifts:
What will i do with coke bottle caps? Make a necklace and wear it!
You know those business card size fridge magnets we are always getting for free? Take some of those type magnets - our town gives big ones with the whole years recycling schedule on it - and draw around a cap to make as many as you need to glue them to the back of them.
RE:What to do with coke bottle caps.
Cut out a Christmas tree shape from card board.Approx 12" high
Cut out circles of Christmas print material scraps big enough to cover caps.
Using needle & thread make running stitch around circle,secure at back of cap. Poke in ends.
Then with craft glue stick all onto tree shape to cover.
Hang up & kids will love it.
they work good for seniors in the nursing home to play bingo, instead of the small bingo chips, easy to hang on to.
Christmas Tree Ornament/Kid's Craft Project.
My daughter's 3rd grade teacher did this as a craft project: Hot glue caps together in any shape really ( she made a circle like pattern: 3 caps across the 1st row, 4 the 2nd, then 5, then 4, then 3). Glue glittery craft pom-poms in each of the "holes" of the cap. Hot glue ribbon to the top, and use as a tree ornament. They look cuter than it sounds!
Put 50 of them in a recycled plastic jar (maybe from licorce or the pretzels in a jar) Give it to a local 1st grade teacher. Children need visuals to learn counting, adding and subtracting.
Make a square piece of cloth or felt maybe 6x6 can be larger, cut 4 pieces of zig zag trim the length ot the fabric you've cut, with this make a tic tac toe lay out- by gluing the trim (lines) onto the fabric. Now gather those bottle caps for a game of tic tac toe. The color of the caps determines the team.
i have a pattern for a wind chime using bottle caps if u would like to have a copy. my email address is biskitbrnr AT yahoo.com. email me and let me know if you would like it.
Yes I would love the pattern. My email
is. chey AT tds.net. Thank you Sharon H.
In the last few years, Aveda Cosmetics started recycling plastic soda bottle caps. They made a strong case for the fact that land and marine animals suffer when the mothers mistake these things for food and feed them to their young, accidentally killing the babies. Unfortunately, Aveda stopped taking these recently. Not all recyclers will take these small things.
Any ideas as to where these can be recycled or how they can be used en mass? Please, can somebody give me a workable solution to this almost unaddressed problem?
If you go to Earth911.com and search for where you can recycle the lids, you'll find an answer! (I'm an environmental educator, and applaud your willingness to recycle - when you find out what litter does to our land and habitat, it just breaks your heart, so thanks for being so responsible!)
Another option is to reuse the lids as decorative pieces (glue several pieces and sizes, all the same color or different, into a frame) or game pieces, or donate them to after-school programs and encourage kids to make things for Earth Day ("snakes", bugs, etc.); the activity could also include some education about the need for recycling!
You can also check with your local waste company, they may not take the tops with the bottles, but you might be able to put them into your general recycle bin.
If you can't find a recycling place to take them, put them in your trash. As long as the trash goes to a landfill no animals or sea life can get to them.
I so wish that Horst Rechelbacher would never have sold his Aveda company to the conglomerate Estee Lauder company. :-( As soon as Lauder took it over they slowly began becoming more and more unsustainable and that's why I quit selling Aveda products in my salon (and my salon was a Concept Salon) before I retired.
In any event, if you can't find a recycling center that will take them in your area you could call around to retirement homes and assorted types of schools who most likely would be more than happy to use them for crafts.
Our waste/recycle collector will accept the caps if they are ON the bottles/containers, but if they are off, I think the automatic separator separates them as trash. Check with your Township recycling person.
You can go to www.terracycle.com/
Seems to me they could be great educational toys, for kids old enough to not put them in their mouths. They could count them, add and subtract them, and if you have an assortment, they could group them by color or size.
Google "buddy benches". We collect bottle caps @ work as part of a (university) campus-wide recycling initiative. Once we've collected 400 lb., we turn them over to a company that recycles them into benches &/or tables for schools. They take pop/water bottle caps, cottage cheese lids, laundry detergent lids, etc. Our building alone has collected almost 150 lb. in the past 6 months! The campus has already collected enough for our first bench, which has gone to the on-campus childcare center.
Where can I find someone who is accepting water caps for cancer? There was a friend's ex-wife who was doing it, but I was told no longer.
Anyway I had my church friend helping me out in this area. My mom, one of my sons had died of cancer and I myself have cancer.Snopes says that this campaign was false:
That said, if you are looking to do something useful with them other than recycle, they do sell on eBay. The SOLD amounts are not high, but you could then donate the cash to your favorite cancer related charity.
Over 1/2 of the last listed packages of tops sold. They average $8 in sales PER lot (lot means sold by the pound or a select number like 1000 pieces and most often sorted by color).
Here are examples of sold auctions if you want to go that route:
www.ebay.com/
Prayers for you and all affected by cancer.
Our recycling center has requested that before bringing plastic bottles, that the caps be removed. Geeze Louise, now I have a bag of caps. Does anyone have a suggestion for what can be done with them?