Local recyclers are turning tonnes of milk bottle tops into cash for charity. Your semi-skimmed green top could end up as next year’s garden furniture.

Melanie Rees at The Green Centre, has been collecting bottle tops for 3 years. Melanie and team of volunteers have amassed 2 tonnes so far, and are raising money for Lupus UK.

Melanie has established a network of individual, and community-group, recyclers all over Brighton and Hove, including Jim Woodward, a teacher at Dorothy Stringer School.

“I read about the scheme in The Argus and The Green Pages originally,” said Jim. “One of our students has a mum with Lupus, and she put up posters all round the school asking people to collect.” Every school term, Jim brings three carrier bags of bottle tops to BPEC, one of Melanie's collection points.

Britain consumes around 180 million pints of milk a week, of which, at least two thirds are sold in plastic bottles. Most local authorities recycle the plastic milk bottles, but not the tops. They usually end up in landfill sites, except those that land at The Green Centre.

Melanie said she gets milk bottle tops from all over the country. “People tell their families and friends about it, and when they come and visit they bring bags of bottle tops.”

She explained that a company in Portsmouth granulates the bottle tops, so the plastic is fit for re-use. The granules and are made into plastic garden furniture, plastic toys, clothes and black bin bags.”

The bottle tops undergo quite a journey, so next time you’re relaxing on a plastic chair in your garden, spare a though for the little old bottle top, and save yours.

Bring your white, red, blue and green tops, remove all stickers and any tabs from the inside of the lid – this is important as they prevent the tops from being recycled – and drop them off at The Green Centre or BPEC.

For more information on collecting and delivering, click here: milk bottle tops