When you recycle plastic bottles, are you supposed to remove that plastic ring at the top?
I know that you should remove the lid, which I do, but that ring always seems to be made of the same stuff as the lid, so should you cut it out before you put the bottle in the recycling tub, or is it OK to leave it?
Also, what about labels?
That would depend on the recycling facility. A fully automated facility crushes the plastics and chops them into small flakes that get dropped past a laser which determines what type of plastic it is and a puff of air blows it into the right bin but many facilities don’t have all the high tech equipment and would just employ people to sort the recyclables by hand. The plastic ring is a different type of plastic that is recycled differently but a little bit mixed in with the other type of plastic isn’t going to hurt much and will just get separated out of the molten plastic as a waste product if the plastic gets that far in recycling. I wouldn’t worry about it, just uncap the bottles, rinse it out and toss both the bottle and the cap into the recycling bin with the bottle uncapped. Likewise with the labels, I wouldn’t bother with it.
I personally take off the labels off juice bottles (Ocean Spray for example) and throw them in the garbage (and the bottles in the recycling). As for those rings on the bottles’ necks, I would leave them intact.
I once tried a kitchen knife (not a dinner knife) to remove the ring from a bottle. Bad idea! I had really cut myself; had to call a neighbor to give me first aid. While I waited for their arrival, I laid on the floor with my feet elevated on pillows and raised my hand while applying pressure.
That would depend on the recycling facility. A fully automated facility crushes the plastics and chops them into small flakes that get dropped past a laser which determines what type of plastic it is and a puff of air blows it into the right bin but many facilities don’t have all the high tech equipment and would just employ people to sort the recyclables by hand. The plastic ring is a different type of plastic that is recycled differently but a little bit mixed in with the other type of plastic isn’t going to hurt much and will just get separated out of the molten plastic as a waste product if the plastic gets that far in recycling. I wouldn’t worry about it, just uncap the bottles, rinse it out and toss both the bottle and the cap into the recycling bin with the bottle uncapped. Likewise with the labels, I wouldn’t bother with it.
I always removed them with my teeth, lol. *dentist cringes*
No and No. Rinse out.