Have you ever wondered what to do with bottle caps and lids? With such a wide variety of containers and caps, it can be hard to know how to dispose of them all. Should a metal cap be recycled on a glass jar or separately? What if it came on a paper carton and not a plastic jug? We’re here to make it easier for you with this list of simple rules:

• Plastic bottle caps can be recycled if they’re screwed onto plastic bottles. In contrast, if a cap is loose, or it came on a paper carton or tetra pak (oat milk cartons, soup cartons and coconut water containers that have a liner), it should go in the garbage, not the recycling.

• Very small items go in the garbage. The sorters and equipment at the materials recovery facility (MRF) are calibrated to separate larger items to be recycled. Very small items like loose plastic caps fall through the machinery and end up in the landfill.

• Plastic lids from larger containers can be recycled. Larger lids, like those on hummus or yogurt containers, are big enough to be sorted individually at the MRF, so they don’t need to be attached to the container. Scrape off any remaining food residue into the garbage and place these in the recycling.
• Plastic coffee cup lids are NOT recyclable. The cardboard sleeve from the coffee cup can be removed and placed in the recycling. The plastic lid and the coffee cup go in the garbage.
• Put metal lids in the recycling container. Remove metal lids, like those on glass jars or tins cans, from their containers. Lids will be picked up by magnets in the MRF. This is also true for metal beer and wine bottle caps.

• Paint lids that have dry paint on them can be recycled. Empty paint cans in the same condition can also be recycled. However, paint cans with any leftover paint need to be disposed of through the County Household Hazardous Waste Program or PaintCare.
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