How do you clean/neutralize LDPE bottles?

[memvapr]

I had a fairly large collection of used bottles I wanted to recycle so thought I'd share what worked for me and open a thread for any additional ideas.

I soaked the bottles, caps, drip tops in a bath of mild detergent and warm water;
Rinsed them with tap water, and soaked them for a bit longer in tap water;
Soaked them in a final bath of distilled water;
Then put it all in an open plastic bowl for a couple of weeks in the freezer...

Result: Pristine bottles, caps, and drip tops with no residual odor, ready for a new round.

 

[Nailz]

I picked up from others, that denture cleaning tablets work well for cleaning, to begin I had my doubts, but used them on toppers and to clean my DIY bottles, they seem to work really well, come out looking clean and smell nothing on them, even when using bottles with strong flavors. Really cheap too, the cheap brand works just fine

 

[Midnight]

you can also soak them in baking soda and water or vinegar and water to get rid of odors

 

[CaFF]

I do basically what has been said.

Blast 'em with hot water to rid of residues, then soak in a bath of very slightly soapy (mild detergent like Dawn - not the fancy stuff) water with a bit of white vinegar added for a couple of hours.

Then, blast 'em again with hot water to rinse and let 'em air dry.

Same thing that I do with newly purchased atties and stuff to get rid of machine oils and crap.

Works for me.

 

[Giraut]

The biggest hurdle for me when I recycle bottles is getting rid of the old labels: the glue is usually tenacious and incredinbly annoying to get rid of. I've tried letting the bottles sit in water for days to soften it up, dropping the bottles in very hot water, using Goo-B-Gone or trichloroethylene, rubbing them vigorously with a vinyl eraser... But it's just a pain regardless of the method.

Nowadays, I've resorted to dropping all the bottles in warm soapy water and scratching out the labels with coarse steel wool. That removes them in a hurry, but the bottles are all scratched up as a result. It's not really a problem, but it doesn't look very nice. Still, it's better than spending 20 minutes per bottle trying to get all of the old glue off.

My own labels are pieces of clear scotch tape, onto which I write with a felt-tip pen on the sticky side, in reverse. The scotch tape is very easy to remove with a fingernail or with hot water, and leaves nothing behind.

 

[Midnight]

getting the sticky glue off is easy... bit of WD40 works like magic, then wash with dawn dish soap and your good to go

 

[buffaloguy]

For removing labels head to the cleaning isle at the store and by a bottle of "Goo Gone". Stuff works like a charm and has a lot of uses.

 

[RocketPuppy]

whoops

 

[EthelMaltol]

I don't really like the idea of soap, don't want any residue. But, baking soda and/ or vinegar or even the denture tabs sound great!

 

[Frawg]

Dawn is safe to use on food containers, or you wouldn't use it to wash dishes. Dawn is also good at cutting any possible oil-based (citrus/cinnamon) flavors which can stick to plastics.

I vinegar as a cleaner, and at $0.98 per gallon or $3.98 per case of 5 gallons I spend less on it than I do on bleach which turns my skin pink, bumpy, and itchy, and cats will only drool profusely if you clean with undiluted vinegar and let dry, they aren't always smart enough to stop licking. With bleach I need to have the vet on speed dial. Some cat don't care for the vinegar and so I'm safer with that than bleach.

But blue Dawn is the safest food-safe detergent out there. Its one reason it's used as DISH soap.

 

[AmandaD]

I use Dawn also. If that doesn't work I pop some baking soda and warm water in the bottle and leave for awhile!

 

[alex31804]

I third Dawn, Ive been using it for a long while to clean old bottles. Just rinse VERY throughly.

 

[Giraut]

Dawn is safe to use on food containers, or you wouldn't use it to wash dishes.

With the small difference that you eat out of dishes, you don't stick the contents in your lungs. I don't want any trace of any kind of detergent inside my juice bottles...

 

[Daintanee]

The biggest hurdle for me when I recycle bottles is getting rid of the old labels: the glue is usually tenacious and incredinbly annoying to get rid of. I've tried letting the bottles sit in water for days to soften it up, dropping the bottles in very hot water, using Goo-B-Gone or trichloroethylene, rubbing them vigorously with a vinyl eraser... But it's just a pain regardless of the method.

Nowadays, I've resorted to dropping all the bottles in warm soapy water and scratching out the labels with coarse steel wool. That removes them in a hurry, but the bottles are all scratched up as a result. It's not really a problem, but it doesn't look very nice. Still, it's better than spending 20 minutes per bottle trying to get all of the old glue off.

My own labels are pieces of clear scotch tape, onto which I write with a felt-tip pen on the sticky side, in reverse. The scotch tape is very easy to remove with a fingernail or with hot water, and leaves nothing behind.

For sticky labels use some goo gone in cleaning isle of store

 

[BunnyT]

I let them soak in hot soapy water, rinse them and then boil the bottles for 3 minutes.

 

[DocDrake]

Would it be effective and/or safe for me to rinse them with tap water then soak them in warm baking soda water to knock out the initial stuff then just run everything though the dishwasher with the rest of my household dishes?

 

[AmandaD]

Would it be effective and/or safe for me to rinse them with tap water then soak them in warm baking soda water to knock out the initial stuff then just run everything though the dishwasher with the rest of my household dishes?

I've had the dishwasher melt plastic bottles, even in the top rack! So now I just soak them in very hot, soapy water.

 

[RMarcusY]

Bottles that had flavors my girlfriend and I liked, I put on a shelf and refill with the same flavor.
Bottles of flavors we didn't like I put in a large jar filled with distilled water (88 cents a gallon at Walmart). Each time I put a empty bottle in the jar I shake the jar. When the jar is full of empty bottles I empty the bottles and put them in a fresh jar of hot distilled water and shake again. I again empty the water from the bottles and smell. If I can't smell any flavor I then put them to dry on a paper towel. The ones that don't come clean I put in the recycle bin that the city picks up. Fresh/new bottles are pretty cheep at http://wholesale.heartlandvapes.com/supplies/plastic-bottles.html