Caps & Lids

Caps and lids from recyclable plastic bottles and jars that can be attached back to the container should be put back on the container (after rinsing the container) before recycling. Caps and lids should always be kept off glass bottles and jars. Caps and lids that cannot be re-attached to the container should be placed in the trash if the cap is smaller than two inches in diameter. Caps and lids that are at least two inches in diameter that cannot be re-attached to the container may still be recycled. Beer bottle caps and other metal caps that are smaller than two inches in diameter may be disposed of as scrap metal at the District Transfer Station. 

The 2-inch rule

Items that are not at least two inches in at least two different directions can fall through the machinery in the Materials Recovery Facility, landing in the crushed glass aggregate and sometimes damaging the works. That’s why small caps not attached to bottles should be thrown in the trash. However, caps that are firmly attached back onto the bottle or that are larger than two inches in diameter can successfully make it through the machinery at the facility.