Plastic Bottle Tops

Plastic Ocean

Originally uploaded by Kevin Krejci

Here we see a typical example of washed up plastic. Something about the density and shape of plastic bottle tops seems to make them one of the most common objects in beach litter. Recycling these tops is less economical than recycling PET plastic bottles. Many municipal recycling schemes do not even accept them. I can’t think of very many ways to reuse them effectively. The best option for consumers is to reduce the number of plastic bottle tops that they ‘consume.’ I try to cut my consumption of bottled soft drinks down to almost nothing. When local lemons are in season, I make lots of lemonade with sugar that comes packaged in paper, lemons that come packaged in lemon peels and water that comes from the tap. Actually, just about any kind of whole fruit can offer the sugar boost that people are craving when they buy a bottled beverage. We generations of effective advertising to thank for the high consumption of bottled soft drinks that seems normal to so many people around the world.