TORONTO, April 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), representing over 90% of North America's post-consumer plastic recycling capacity, is encouraging municipal recycling programs to promote 'the Caps On Bottles' to take advantage of this recycling opportunity. The Canadian Plastic Industry Association supports this initiative because plastic bottle caps and closures are highly recyclable. They have been well designed for recycling when replaced and recycled on the bottle they came with to be remanufactured into new products.

This is a simple program to implement that produces highly marketable plastic bales. Caps are made from HDPE#2 and PP#5 plastic resins, which are in high demand. Generally, most heavy duty horizontal ram balers have sufficient pressure to compact plastic bottles with caps on to produce good bales for cost-efficient shipping.

Through a simple message – "Empty bottle, crush, replace cap and recycle", citizens find it easy to participate and recycle caps & closures. Important benefits include a reduction in caps that end up as residuals in recycling sorting facilities and avoids loose caps becoming litter that could end up in our marine environments.

We are encouraging municipal recycling program managers and educators to relay this message to their residents. As well, CPIA's new on-line Promotion & Education Image Bank, is available at no cost to assist municipalities and collectors to help promote the recycling of plastic bottles, containers and caps.

We encourage all municipalities and recyclers to make use of this new and exciting plastics recycling resource.

Resources:

• Canadian Plastics Industry Association P &E Image Bank
• The Association of Post-Consumer Plastic Recyclers FAQ on 'Caps on' bottles

If you have questions or comments on this and other plastic recycling programs, contact your local CPIA representative:

• Ontario, Joe Hruska, jhruska@cogeco.ca
• Quebec, Trish Johnson, pjohnson@rvanderson.com
• Alberta, Grant Cameron, g.m.cam@telus.net
• British Columbia, Craig Foster, craigfoster@shaw.ca

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association is the national voice of Canada's plastics industry, representing the interests of processors, material suppliers, equipment manufacturers and brand owners across the country.