NORTH BRUNSWICK — A new theme at North Brunswick Township High School is “Twist, drop and stop.”
Members of the Environmental Club and the Care to Walk Club are collecting twist plastic bottle caps, which are sent to a recycling plant in West Babylon, N.Y., that specializes in recycling the specific type of plastic.
Collection containers are set up at the high school on Raider Road, at the township municipal building and library on Hermann Road, and at the Senior Center on Linwood Place for the threaded neck caps found on shampoo, water, soda and milk bottles, pharmaceutical lids, food product bottles, laundry detergent containers and some jars.
“There are 2,000 kids here. You figure they have to drink something with a twist cap,” adviser Amy Rafano said.
Rafano found out about the initiative more than two years ago. Aveda, a hair and skin care company, has partnered with more than 1,600 schools across the country to prevent these caps from winding up as trash or litter, according to its website. Aveda sends the schools free shipping labels, so there is no fee for North Brunswick to join the program.
The school has collected more than 20,000 caps over the past two years, and would like to collect another 20,000 this year alone.
To further involve students at the school, members of the Learning Center’s Transition Program will collect the caps once a month from the off-site containers, and will help package and ship them out.
To set up a collection site, email Rafano at [email protected].