Bottle top & other convert to ca£h scemes?

Mids_Costcutter

oldtoolie wrote: »

If you are asking about plastic bottle tops, please read the whole thread here -- from page one.

But the bottom line is --- There are no wheelchairs for bottletops.

Bottle caps are worth about 2.5p per kilogram when delivered in 500kg lots to the gates of the recycling company. IMHO not worth the trouble.

Just wondered where you're getting your prices from? 2.5p per kilo equals £25 per tonne. According to industry prices on letsrecycle.com coloured HDPE (from which a lot of bottle tops seem to be made) is fetching £160-180 per tonne at the moment. There must be a reason why there are so many bottletop collection schemes being run around the country.

1971

Anyone know any charities that are taking plastic bottle tops, be saving for ages and have loads. thanks

oldtoolie

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/action-desk/the_milk_bottle_top_charity_collecting_myth_1_3139771

The milk bottle top charity collecting myth

Peter and Val Stokes from Totley collect plastic bottle tops to raise money for Diabetes UK but the only place they can send them to is in Portsmouth
By David Walsh
Published on Friday 4 March 2011 09:00

Thousands of people are collecting plastic milk bottle tops ‘for charity’ - but are they wasting their time?

Well-meaning folk, keen to do their bit for the environment and good causes, set aside the coloured tops, which cannot go into the blue bin for recycling in Sheffield.

Time and again people say they are collecting for a disabled child who will receive a wheelchair if they collect their body weight in tops.

But it appears to be a myth - no-one can actually name the child or the charity.

Action Desk recently published an appeal for the name of any organisation that turns the tops into money.

Reader Elizabeth Walker, aged 58, of Hollythorpe Road, Norton Lees, said she had two bags to give away.

We had a good response from collectors willing to take them, but it was always for a friend of a friend. No-one could name the company.

Retired Val Stokes, 67, of West View Lane, Totley, has been collecting for months and has a network of donors. She aims to raise money for the Sheffield branch of Diabetes UK.

She said she tracked down one company that would give cash for tops, but it’s in Portsmouth.

GHS Recycling pays £25 for 500kg - that’s a whopping 325,000 tops, or up to 200 bin bags full. The fuel costs of transporting them would be more than double that.

Val knows the financial rewards aren’t great, but she wanted to do what she could.

She said: “I have two big bin bags full but no means of transporting them to Portsmouth. I’m on a fixed income as a pensioner, but I can donate my time, and doing this is no trouble. It’s not much, but every little helps.”

Kim Miles, of GHS, said hauliers using the ferry port would sometimes agree to drop off bags of tops.

ACTION Desk approached plastics recycler Plumb Polymers, of 505 Carlisle Street East in Attercliffe, Sheffield, and manager Andrew Hamilton made a very good offer.

He said the firm would pay up to £100 a tonne for plastic milk bottle tops.

But it was vital they were clean and ‘pure’ - with all foil from the inside and sticky labels removed.

He added: “We’ve not had people contact us about milk bottle tops before.

“But we will pay £100 a tonne for the right sort. It’s best if collectors contact us first.”

Bottle tops can be ground up and turned into new ones, or into kids’ play equipment and plant pots.

Call Plumb Polymers on 0114 243 4341.

MarkLee_2

Hi Everyone, I run a charity for the elderly and have just started the collection of plastic milk bottle tops after finding a recycling company that will pay us for them. We are based in Surrey and so far have had a positive response from schools and care homes in the area willing to help. Would be glad to hear from anybody that can also help.

northern-delight

Hello, I'm a bit skeptical on all this too. A few months back a colleague started collecting these for one of his friends in the hope of getting a wheelchair for a young girl. I contacted a couple of schools and got them involved and this week my colleague sent an email around the office saying that they now had enough to get this wheelchair.

As a result I now have 2 black bin bags full of bottle tops stored in my cellar. If anyone can use them for any kind of charity you are more than welcome to them. I am in Leeds, West Yorkshire so cannot transport them down to that company in Portsmouth but if anyone in the Leeds area can use them then please get in touch. Thanks

sock-knitter

northern-delight wrote: »

Hello, I'm a bit skeptical on all this too. A few months back a colleague started collecting these for one of his friends in the hope of getting a wheelchair for a young girl. I contacted a couple of schools and got them involved and this week my colleague sent an email around the office saying that they now had enough to get this wheelchair.

As a result I now have 2 black bin bags full of bottle tops stored in my cellar. If anyone can use them for any kind of charity you are more than welcome to them. I am in Leeds, West Yorkshire so cannot transport them down to that company in Portsmouth but if anyone in the Leeds area can use them then please get in touch. Thanks

a couple of friends of mine are collecting bottle tops to help a lady get a wheelchair. i am sure they are still collecting, i will ask tommorrow, to find out for sure. i'm in west yorks and could arrange to meet you if my friends are still collecting

AliJ72

I know the posts are about collecting bottle tops for charitable causes; but if you are stuck with what to do with the ones you have collected, Lush shops collect bottle tops for recycling:

http://www.wasteconnect.co.uk/page.aspx?ID=a8915c13-cf16-4552-bf04-b06312571f86

At least it saves chucking them out.

Cantraig

I just found something search google for Matthew project

I have been collecting for some time as well as others in my community raising a total on 12 tonnes for 3 special wheelchairs, we still have many more collected in and I didn't want to just throw them and came across this advert.

Mids_Costcutter

Can anyone explain why charities so often choose to collect plastic bottle tops, when aluminium or steel drinks cans have a much higher scrap value?

With any of these collections I would imagine the main problem to be logistics: finding somewhere to store the plastic and then transporting it to the buyer. It must take an awful lot of plastic bottle tops to make up a tonne!

amandaplastow55

Hi have been collecting milk bottle tops for wheel chairs all collected now but myself and another lady have thousands left we dont want to bin them does anyone know of any collections in west yorkshire, Leeds area dont mind delivering them , just dont want to see them go to waste Thanks Amanda x