Bottle Caps to Benches program available to youth groups
Bottle caps are being collected to turn into benches made for Skip’s Landing. (Submitted)
Plastics-R-Unique, a company in Wadsworth, Ohio, has a program for youth to encourage them to learn about caring for the Earth and green living. School aged children will be responsible for collecting, sorting and weighing the caps.
Alex Nelson, director and education specialist for Coshocton County Recycling and Litter Prevention, said there are two groups in the county now that are collecting bottle caps to have benches made for Skip’s Landing, the new county park and boat ramp on County Road 1A. “Ridgewood Local Schools have a collection box near their bus garage. Kraft Foods partnered with a local Girl Scout troop to collect caps and they have a collection box at their plant on South Second Street.”
The benches for the county park will be gray with black legs. Each bench will need 200 pounds of caps and will cost $375. They are six feet long. There will be two or three benches placed in the park.
“I want everyone to know that they can collect for benches to use wherever they want. It doesn’t have to be for our project at all. You can collect to have a bench for your favorite park or for your personal use. The only thing the company requires are that children are involved to help them learn about recycling and taking care of the Earth,” Nelson said.
The role of the youth group is to collect, weigh and sort the plastic items, order the bench and then take the collected items to the company and pick up the bench.
Local businesses can be involved by sponsoring a bench. As noted, the benches for the Skip’s Landing Park are $375 each. By sponsoring a bench, the youth group will be sure to be able to fund the bench. If you are unable to sponsor a bench, offer to put a collection box at your business or put one in your business’s lunch room to collect caps.
Nelson said they would really like to have four benches at the Skip’s Landing location. “Any youth group that would be interested in participating should reach out to me. Plastics-R-Unique offers this program year round and with other furniture options for the Cap Collection Program.”
The types of caps that are acceptable are: Small caps from food grade containers; snap on lids, such as butter tubs and coffee cans; small twist on caps, like medicine drink bottle and milk caps; large twist lids, such as detergent caps; spout type caps like squirt condiment caps and flip top caps, such as ketchup caps.
No caps with metal, pumps with springs inside, like lotion bottles or medical supplies are accepted. The program only accepts caps because they are easy to sort for recycling.
For more information, contact Nelson at 740-575-4813.
Category: People & Places
