Bottle Cap

by Dr. David Sanders

Just when I was ready to give up on humanity (not on any particular human just the overall take on whether the “human project” as a species could be trusted for even one generation to stop killing each other and wrecking the environment) a little spark of light, a glimmer of hope emerged in the shape of a plastic bottle cap.

Milk is faithfully delivered to our home by Longmont Dairy every Monday night. The milk comes in glass containers and is tightly sealed with a plastic cap. I was excited to learn that our girls’ school asked parents to bring in the caps so they could collect them and return them to Longmont Dairy’s recycling program. I had no idea what the arrangement was between the Dairy and the school, but Milk Caps for Moola felt like a win-win, a way to help our girls’ school and help the environment. Milk with caps are delivered to our home, and in turn, the caps get delivered back to the Dairy by the school.

Last month, in Moo News (Volume 33:11), Longmont Dairy announced that a milestone. It had taken 12 years, but with the latest months’ trove of caps they had surpassed 16,000,000. I was floored by the number. The next sentence was even more startling. The value of those bottle caps, 5 cents each, translated into Longmont Dairy donating to the participating schools $800,000.

I ask you: If you saw a nickel on the street, would you pick it up? If you hadn’t and instead passed it by and then a few steps later saw another nickel, and then another and another and as you kept walking for miles upon miles kept passing by a nickel every few steps…Conversely, if you saw a bottle cap on the street, would you pick it up? At some point those nickels and bottle caps would add up to $800,000 dollars or 16 million pieces of plastic.

We at times don’t place enough importance on a small act, casting a vote, doing a favor, saying a kind word, donating one item, returning a bottle cap. That is, until we are staggered by the power of the collective, the power of doing our part no matter how small it may be.