Abstract: A method and apparatus is described for removing screw caps from returned beverage bottles prior to such bottles being cleaned and refilled. The method includes separately gripping the screw cap and the bottle and thereafter rotating the cap relative to the bottle while preventing translational movement of such cap along the helix of the cap threads so that the threads on the cap will be stripped to facilitate its release from the bottle. The apparatus includes a plurality of decapping heads at a decapping station, each of which heads both frictionally engage the exterior cylindrical side wall of a cap on a bottle passing through the decapping station and pierces the cap's crown wall with a piercing tool having a non-circular cross-section, to obtain the firm grip on the cap required to rotate the same with sufficient force to strip its threads.