"Plastic waste is so pervasive, and being able to transform the waste into something that is useful is exciting and important," said Marcia Rapone, adviser of the Green Club at Octorara Junior-Senior High School, when describing how the students collected plastic bottle caps that will be made into benches for the school. "It's such a great teachable moment to show that (collecting) waste can be viewed as an opportunity."

Members of the Green Club, who began collecting caps in the fall of 2019, gathered a total of 279 pounds of plastic caps, which will be chipped up and melted down into boards and made into two benches by Eco Plastic Products of Delaware. The students recently took their donation to the Wilmington facility, where they learned about the plastic recycling process.

"I am fortunate to have a back storage room in my classroom where I put the nine giant boxes we filled," explained Rapone. "Caps take up less space, so that's why we collected just caps, but Eco Plastics takes all kinds of plastics."

The caps were collected by club members, as well as the Octorara school community. "The students had started collecting caps from milk containers in the lunchroom, and staff members started bringing in their caps from home," Rapone said. "The Green Club doesn't accept caps from outside the school, as there is safety concern. We have a steady stream of caps coming from staff, faculty and students."

She noted that the Green Club is working to raise funds for a redesign and renovation of a courtyard area at the school. "The benches will be placed in that area. We hope to make a pathway system and mini amphitheater that classes could use to go outside for their lessons," Rapone noted. "We hope to make many more benches - maybe around 10 - and maybe some picnic tables, too."

The outdoor classroom is all part of an effort to get more students outside to enjoy the courtyard space. "The goal for these benches is to get students outside more and to give them a space where they can learn, as well as relax and enjoy nature. We have a perfect courtyard area, but it is not very accessible or used much," Rapone shared. "We want to create a pathway system and (place) benches throughout the area. The benches were a nice goal to work toward while we figure out how to fundraise and finance the bigger renovation."

Rapone noted that the courtyard project was originally pitched as a class project by one of her climate science classes in 2018. "They wanted to do plantings on our campus in an effort to draw more carbon down from the atmosphere," she recalled. "Those students - Wyatt Umble, Brock Young and Bianca Cortez - have graduated now, but that seed of an idea that they planted has started to take root."

Eco Plastic Products estimates that the two benches will be ready for pickup in April.

Rapone added that one of the Green Club's next projects is to do an outreach program with the younger students in the district on Earth Day.