Precious Plastic (Taringa)

PRECIOUS PLASTIC (TARINGA)

Email: plastic@d-wizz.com | SMS: 0490 060778
28 Manchester Tce TARINGA (corner Waverley Road)

BOTTLE CAP SORTING SCHEME

Bottle caps are sorted in a three-tier system: by size, type and then colour. This guide is for basic sorting if you want to help. You can choose how much sorting you want to do.

LEVEL 1

Sorting by size

There are four main classes of size:

small (25-30mm)
large (35-40mm)
carton caps
sports caps/pop-tops

All other caps/closures are sorted into a miscellaneous group. This includes lids from peanut butter or coffee jars, baby formula tins, health food supplements, etc. Most of these are 50-100mm diameter or more.

LEVEL 2

Within each size class there are a few sub-groups for the main types.

1. SMALL CAPS (25-30mm)

type 1100 Asahi

NOTE: a few caps may look like Asahi but are not. Watch out for logos on the top, or a "P" code inside (see photo in miscellaneous section below) - these are not Asahi and get sorted with miscellaneous. CSI caps (type 1800) have a few similarities also but are different enough for a trained eye to easily tell them apart at a glance. Most Asahi caps have a mould code with a letter and two numbers, such as "27C" (as shown).

type 1200 CCA (coca-Cola)

NOTE: watch out for the Tru ("A" series) caps (see below), which look similar on the inside to CCA, but don't have the distinctive CCA knurling pattern along the outer edge.

type 1300 nu (water)

As of May 2021, a variant of nu caps has begun appearing. These are slightly larger than the original ones and have the recycle symbol on the top. For now, these are being sorted as miscellaneous and not as nu. If the quantity of these variant caps increases, a new category will be established.

type 1800 CSI (small)

Commonly found on supermarket branded beverages.

type 1400 Tru ("A" series)

Commonly found on supermarket branded soft drinks.

type 1500 Lipton

type 1700 VIP star

includes translucent blue ones which are not strictly VIP.

slim caps

these are not specified in the schedule but they are usually about 5mm high and slightly larger than most. This category does not include the variant nu caps discussed above.

These caps like to lock together and can be a little difficult to separate.

all other small caps

Here are some examples of miscellaneous small caps. Some of them look similar to the Asahi (type 1100), but there are subtle differences. Many of these are found on imported beverages.

2. LARGE CAPS (35-40mm)

Large caps are in two broad categories: LDPE and HDPE. You can use the "squeeze test" to check - LDPE caps will be easy to squeeze while HDPE ones will offer more resistance. Within each of these two types, caps are further sorted into sub-types.

all LDPE caps
NOTE: there is no need to sort LDPE caps into the following subtypes unless you are so inclined to do so. It will be done eventually, however, so any help is welcome.

type 2100 fP

type 2300 LDPE

type 2340 LDPE PMBD (sorted separately)

type 2420 BC38xx

type 2500 SLP

type 2150 with recycle symbol

type 2180 with no mould code

other LDPE
Any LDPE caps which don't fall into the above categories. None have so far been found.

certain HDPE caps

type 2200 CCA

found on Barista Bros. milk drinks (manufactured by CCA).

type 2800 CSI (no liner)

usually found on milk bottles with a removable polystyrene liner. These liners should be removed and collected separately. Mould code is two letters and 3 numbers, the second letter is always A.

type 2810 CSI (with liner)

similar to 2810 above, but with a clear non-removable liner, these are usually found on fruit juice bottles.

type 2870 Visy 383

does not include VISY 382 which are not as common but look similar. As with type 2800 above, these have a polystyrene liner which should be removed and collected separately.

type 2600 fruit juice

found on some fruit juice and cordial bottles. These have a thicker polystyrene liner which requires a screwdriver or similar to remove for separate collection.

type 2890 aF

mostly clear, but red, white and black have been seen in small quantities.

type 2700 Gatorade

mostly orange, but other colours seen in small quantities. Look for the distinctive shape and liner inside.

type 2850 Oak

type 2860 So Good

only found in blue and white varieties, with a white centre inside.

all other large caps

Here's a selection of some miscellaneous large caps. Some of these have been assigned class codes.

3. CARTONS

Carton tops have at least two parts: a cap and a body. Some have a cutter inside the body. Carton top bodies are not often collected because people don't bother to rip them off. There are five main types of carton tops.

type 3100 carton type 1