TAPONES DE PLÁSTICO

BOTTLE CAPS

The campaign to collect bottle caps for solidarity, which is currently being carried out by CEIP Oromana, has helping Álvaro and his family as its main objective.

Bottle caps for Álvaro

Álvaro is a 4-year-old resident of Alcalá de Guadaíra, who currently studies in the preschool at CEIP Manuel Alonso. Let me tell you more about Álvaro…

Álvaro has been a warrior ever since he was born. At only 80-days-old, he was diagnosed with Nemaline Myopathy.

Nemaline Myopathy is a neuromuscular congenital hereditary disease. It is considered to be a very rare illness, which less than 30 people in Spain currently have. Unfortunately, our dear friend Álvaro and his family must now confront it.

This sickness does not have any treatment or cure, only therapies such as speech and physical therapies (swimming). These therapies help to advance his musculature as much as possible and improve his autonomy and quality of life.

The bottle caps are collected by his father, José Manuel, who by means of his association “Ese es mi secreto, nunca me rindo,” brings them to a recycling plant in Alcalá de Guadaíra called Cover Polímeros (business with an extensive experience in the treatment of plastic materials for recycling).

The Process

Here they are disinfected, crushed and converted into polymer to make chippings, a raw material used to develop new products such as lids, boxes, linings, insulators…

The bottle caps collected at school are made of one of the materials that belong to the family of polyolefin (plastics) like polyethylene and polypropylene. These are highly contaminating substances and are found in many everyday household items including containers and plastic bags. It is evident that the cumulative disposal of these plastics into the environment causes severe consequences to our communities such as illnesses, blockages in the sewage pipes, contamination of the ocean, etc.

Many of the advantages of these plastic products become disadvantages once we throw them out, whether it be a container because it is disposable or when we throw away plastic items because they are broken.

Even if the majority of plastics can be reused or recycled, the truth is that nowadays this waste is a difficult to solve problem, especially in large cities.

For this reason, recycling is essential to complete this ecological and charitable circle. Collecting bottle caps is something that does not require money or work, so saving bottle caps in your house for this charitable cause is very honorable.

Did you know…?

And now let me present to you a mathematical problem… I have collected 98 bottle caps within a month and a half. They weigh approximately 2 grams each, with a total of 188 grams. To reach a ton, I need…half a million bottle caps!!!!! If one ton is worth 180 euros, how much money will I get with my 98 bottle caps? (Answer: 3 cents)

Below you can see the type of bottle caps which can be disposed of in the bin.