2020/2021 School Year
Join Stamford students in removing 1,000,000 more plastic bottle caps before they reach the Sound.
Middle School Students Lead the Way to a Cleaner Environment
Following a successful start in 2019-20, when students collected over 1,028,000 bottle caps, the One Million Bottle Caps project is challenging a whole new class of Stamford middle school students to collect one million more during the 2020-21 school year. In a partnership of SoundWaters, NOAA, and Stamford Public Schools, the students will learn to take real action against the problem of microplastics in Long Island Sound and show friends, family and the community that they understand the problem and can do something real to secure the future of their planet.
A New Class of 6th Graders Accepts The Challenge
Sixth grade science classes in all six Stamford middle schools will collect and count plastic bottle caps throughout the school year. Students will gain confidence and experience as environmental stewards by recruiting friends, family and members of the community to support their quest. Their efforts and results will showcase our global plastics problem.
Collect a million bottle caps. Then What?
1,000,000 plastic bottle caps weighs approximately two tons! Students will be preventing a car’s weight in plastic from flowing into Long Island Sound, but then what? The types of plastic used in bottle caps are polypropylene and polyethylene, which can be recycled and fabricated into useful products. SoundWaters is working with the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and the World Design Organization (WDO) and plastics manufacturer, Braskem , to recycle the bottle caps and create a new product that can be returned to the community. Stamford middle school students are working directly with professional industrial designers from companies around the world to create a new product that will be helpful in the kitchen. Read about this exciting and unprecedented design challenge.
How Can You Help?
- Pick ‘em up! When you see plastic bottle caps in the environment, pick them up. (If they’re attached to a bottle, make sure the bottle is disposed of properly.) PLEASE, PLASTIC CAPS ONLY.
- Count Them! Please, Please, Please count the bottle caps you’ve collected before you proceed to step 3.
- Drop them off. If you are participating with your school please stay tuned for more information on where to drop them off in January. If you are a community member please place them in the blue bucket on the front porch of SoundWaters in Cove Island Park with a note stating the number of bottle caps and which school count you would like to put them towards.
Questions? Contact SoundWaters at bottlecaps@soundwaters.org.
Industry and Education Partners
Purpose
“It makes me want to keep on collecting more and more trash because the one million bottle caps is just the first impact on the world we can have. I think we should collect more every single year.”
– Emily, 6th grade, Rogers International School
Bottle Cap Tally: 643,999
Stamford Middle Schools
Cloonan MS:
Dolan MS: 28,950 PLANKTON SCHOOL
Rippowam MS: 6,032
Rogers International School: 221,550 WHALE SCHOOL
Scofield Magnet School: 3,444
Turn of River MS: 5,294
Supporting Schools
Ansonia Public Schools
The Royals: 340
Brave Caps: 969
Bottle Busters!: 778
Amity Middle School (Orange, CT)
Bridges School (Cos Cob, CT): 939
Rumsey Hall School: 46,405 EGRET SCHOOL
Westover Magnet School: 446
Tracey Magnet School: 180,353 WHALE SCHOOL
Tolland Public Schools: 57,141 EGRET SCHOOL
Supporting Companies & Organizations
SoundWaters: 91,988
Cornerstone Community Church
Achievement Levels
15,000 caps – PLANKTON SCHOOL
45,000 caps – EGRET SCHOOL
70,000 caps – TURTLE SCHOOL
100,000 caps – SEAL SCHOOL
170,000 caps – WHALE SCHOOL
What Types of Bottle Caps Are We Collecting?
It is important to ensure that all waste – plastic in particular – is disposed of safely and appropriately so that it never ends up in our natural environment where it can only do damage.
The Million Bottle Cap Challenge is focused on collecting hard plastic bottle caps as representative of the global problem of improper disposal of plastics. Many types of plastic are recyclable, but students are collecting only hard plastic caps. They are more common than we realize. Here are examples of acceptable caps:
| Beverage bottle caps (water, soda, juice, sports drinks, etc.) | Milk and juice jug caps | Medicine bottle caps (labels removed) |
| Detergent bottle caps | Hair spray & spray paint caps | Toothpaste tube caps |
| Apple sauce pouch caps | Flip-top caps (ketchup, mustard, etc.) | Spout caps (mustard, etc.) |
| Shampoo & conditioner caps | Ointment tube caps | Peanut butter jar caps |
What is not being collected? Larger, more flexible plastic lids, like yogurt lids, cool whip, butter and cream cheese lids. They are often recyclable, but the students are not collecting them as a part of their challenge.
Questions? Visit MillionBottleCaps.org or email bottlecaps@soundwaters.org
