BY JAMES WERNICKE
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos is organizing an event to sort plastic caps and lids next Saturday, June 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC).
A Bench For Caps (ABC) Promise Program raises awareness about the impact of single-use plastic waste by recycling plastic caps and lids into durable outdoor furniture, including benches, picnic tables, and planters. Plastic caps are small, lightweight, and frequently discarded. While individual caps may seem insignificant, thousands of them quickly add up to hundreds of pounds of recyclable material. Through this program, plastic that would otherwise end up in landfills is recycled into products that benefit communities for years to come.
Volunteers have collected almost 500 pounds of plastic caps that now need to be sorted before they can be transported to a recycling facility where they will be melted down and molded into outdoor furniture for our community. No experience is necessary—just a willingness to help.
You can also support the program by setting up plastic cap collection bins in workplaces, schools, and community spaces, donating temporary storage space in your homes, businesses, and community spaces for collected caps until enough material has been gathered for transport. Every cap collected is one less in a landfill and one more towards another piece of outdoor furniture for the community.
For more information on how to participate, visit https://rotarylosalamos.org/