Plastic Lids
What Should I Do With It?
Disposable coffee cups, lids, and bottle caps present unique sorting challenges at recovery facilities due to their size and material mix. Cardboard coffee sleeves and large plastic lids from tubs are highly recyclable once cleaned, but plastic coffee lids and paper cups themselves must go in the garbage. For plastic bottle caps, they can only be recycled if they are screwed tightly onto their matching plastic bottles. Loose caps, along with caps from paper cartons, are too small for sorting machinery to capture and must be thrown in the regular trash. To reduce this daily waste, carrying a reusable travel mug is a highly effective alternative.
Before throwing this away, see if it can be fixed up, given to a friend, or donated to a local thrift shop. Keeping items in use is the best way to stop waste before it starts!
The recycling guidelines shown here are for general reference and educational purposes. Every city and town has different rules, sorting equipment, and recycling programs.
Please check your local town website or ask your local garbage collection program to make sure you are following your neighborhood's rules.