Plastic bottles can be hard to clean, but if you are interested in recycling them, they have to be cleaned out. Fortunately, there are quite a few quick and easy ways to clean plastic bottles. The methods here are useful for not only cleaning out disposable plastic bottles, but also for cleaning Thermos containers, baby bottles and any other plastic bottle you care to reuse.
We can purchase a good bottle brush, the type that is used to clean baby bottles. There should be a larger brush on one end and a smaller brush on the other. Then place some baking soda and hot water or a mild solution of bleach and water inside the bottle and let it sit. The bleach solution is especially helpful if the bottle has had liquid inside it that has gone bad. Allow the bottle to rest for several hours.
After this pour out the baking soda or bleach solution. Place some soap inside the plastic bottle and fill the bottle with hot water. Work the large end of the baby bottle brush into the bottle if it will fit, and move it around inside the bottle. If the large end of the brush will not fit in the bottle, turn it around and use the small end. And shake the bottle to further work the soapy water around the bottle. Pour out the soapy water and rinse the bottle several times until the soap bubbles are gone. Wash and rinse the outside of the bottle as well with a clean, soapy sponge. Carefully clean out the bottle cap or Thermos cap and cup.Allow the bottle to dry completely before putting the cap back on. Bottle driers are available commercially, and are very useful if you find that you must wash bottles frequently.
17 Aug
