Plastics recyclers want caps on bottles

The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), a U.S.-based trade association representing more than 90 per cent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America, recently announced that their members support putting caps on bottles and containers for recycling.   APR states that plastics recyclers have the technology to sort and recycle the closures with bottles and has also reported growing demand in the domestic marketplace for these materials.  

In Canada the Canadian Plastics Industry Association commented on the announcement.  

“CPIA encourages municipalities and recycling operators to examine the benefits and impacts that ‘caps on’ will have on their collection, MRF baling and marketing operations, including changes needed in their instructions to citizens on how they should deal with caps and closures,” says Cathy Cirko, Vice President, CPIA. “We recognize that not all municipal and recycling program operators have perforators and heavy-duty balers, but where they do, the caps should have a positive effect on plastics recycled, reduction of caps in other materials streams, reduced MRF residuals, and less litter and waste in the community.”  

Any questions or comments on this practice, can be directed to your local CPIA representative. In Ontario, contact Joe Hruska at [email protected]; in  Quebec, Trish Johnson at [email protected]; in  Alberta, Grant Cameron at [email protected]; and in British Columbia, Craig Foster at [email protected]   

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association is the voice of the $31-billion Canadian Plastics Industry, and represents over 3,350 companies employing 106,000 workers. The CPIA is committed to increasing the amount of plastic and the different types of plastic waste being diverted from landfill through the use of various waste management options, such as reuse, recycle and energy recovery. www.plastics.ca