They may look like typical benches, but the blue benches located near the ball diamonds at Pitsburg Ball Diamonds are anything but.
The 200-pound bench is made from recycled caps.
“When you open up a refrigerator door, you have ketchup, relish, mustard bottles with caps. You open up a bottle of pop or water while you’re on the go. Every family has hundreds of plastic caps they don’t realize they have – caps from spray paint cans, laundry soap, deodorant, spice jars, and peanut butter”, said Krista Fourman Unger, director of Darke County Solid Waste.
The district collects non-recyclable plastic caps and then hauls them to Green Tree Recycling in Evansville, Ind., a company that turns the caps into benches. In the last few years, the district has collected more than 30,000 lbs. of non-biodegradable bottle caps, which residents have donated to several cap collecting efforts.
The district’s goal is to generate interest in the conservation of the environment by taking non-recyclable plastic and creating park benches to place them in public areas.
Environmental group earth911.com estimates that Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles each hour, and every one of them is manufactured with a cap.
It requires about 200 pounds of donated caps to build a 6-foot bench and costs $330.
Fourman Unger said the project has grown into more than what she originally expected, and said the community support has been “awesome.” She said “This is an easy way to help out your community without it costing you any extra money … you can be proud of your efforts. Instead of adding to the trash in the landfills, we have a nice bench for people to sit and relax and enjoy the scenery.”
The goal now is to collect enough plastic caps from the area to make more than 200 benches to replace aging wooden benches in the City of Greenville Park Marling Band Shell area. The green metal frame benches with the wooden board back and seats have seen many concerts and county fairs. After approximately 50 years of service, they are ready to be retired.
The clean, dry caps acceptable in the ABC Partnership Program (Bench Program) through Green Tree Recycling must have a recycling symbol and the number 2, 4, or 5 on them. Some examples of lids are mayonnaise lids, mustard lids, catsup lids, cottage cheese lids, butter tub lids, laundry detergent lids, milk jug lids, sports drink bottle lids, and coffee can lids. Don’t forget things like shampoo and conditioner lids, flip-top dressing lids, spout caps, ice cream bucket lids (under 8”), hair spray caps, and toothpaste tube caps. Absolutely no medical waste can be accepted. If you have questions about whether something is recyclable, give the district a call at 937-547-0827.
There are local plastic cap collection sites throughout the county, including the City of Greenville, WTGR, Darke County Solid Waste, Village of Ansonia, Village of Arcanum, Village of Versailles, Bish Discovery Center, Shawnee Prairie Preserve, Arcanum Public Library, Greenville Public Library, and Worch Memorial Library.
The district is also seeking volunteers to help sort bottle caps. We have a wonderful volunteer, Gail Shafer, who checks our caps for us and makes sure that what we ship is on the up and up!!! The district is open Monday through Friday 9 am to 3:30 pm for volunteer hours.
The district is planning to haul another shipment of caps and lids to Green Tree Recycling in mid-March and plans to bring back 15 more benches. The Village of Wayne Lakes will be receiving ten of the benches and the other five will be going to the City of Greenville Park. These benches are at no cost to the city or the village and are paid for out of district funds.
The City Park Board is also making available the same bench for purchase for retail sale with engraving. The City Park benches will be gray with black legs and six feet long. For more information on how you can purchase a bench, please call 937-548-2315.
“I’ve gotten calls from neighboring counties residents who wish their county would do this program too!,” said Fourman-Unger.
For a full list of items taken, visit our website at www.co.darke.oh.us/solidwaste Our website also has the dates and times of our annual events! If you have any other recycling questions that we might help you with, please call 937-547-0827.
