Converting plastic waste into functional products is no longer just an idea: these students are already making it a reality through the recycling of bottle caps.
These are the fourth-year students of EPET 10 of Eduardo Castex, La Pampa, who are advancing with this green proposal.
The young people manufacture everything from shuffleboard games to tools through the recycling of plastic bottle caps.
To do this, they use adapted equipment and temperatures that reach up to 250 degrees.
“We started the project this year to recycle plastic bottle caps and we reuse the caps to prevent environmental pollution,” explained teacher Sergio De Niro and student Malena Nuin during the II Environmental Expo held at the Municipal Cultural Center (CCM) in the town of La Pampa.
Recycling bottle caps: the ideal material for learning
The choice of soda bottle caps is no coincidence, detailed the school.
This material “can be easily worked with because it does not emit toxic gases” when exposed to heat, Nuin detailed.
Moreover, it is one of the “easiest materials to find because they are widely used,” she added.
With ovens working at 250 degrees, they manage to make the plastic malleable to later manufacture shuffleboard pieces, boards, sculptures, paintings, and other items.
“You can make whatever comes to mind. You just need to have the desire to work, nothing more,” assured the student.
A workshop that transforms homemade tools into industrial machinery
The school’s Polymer Workshop operates with tools that families and teachers donated and were later adapted for the production process.
For example, a corn grinder now crushes bottle caps, a chulengo was turned into a oven for molding plastic, and even a packaging machine is part of the transformation process.
“We assembled the tools with the families and teachers, who donated some tools that we adapted for the reuse of plastic process,” detailed the project protagonists.
In this regard, Nuin explained that the school “works a lot on mechanization, and as spare parts and machinery are increasingly being made with plastic.”
Future projection: from recycling bottle caps to other types of plastic
De Niro indicated that industrial tools for these tasks “are expensive because they are used for industrialization.”
Therefore, they are not accessible for an educational establishment. However, the institution does not stop.
“This has no ceiling. That is why the institution’s intention is to continue advancing and recycle other types of plastics that we cannot do today because we do not have the machinery,” projected the teacher.
And he detailed: “Currently those tools are in process and we hope to put them into operation in 2026,” the teacher anticipated.
The goal is to achieve greater material volume. “In Eduardo Castex, we do not have the material volume to do industrialized or large-scale work,” he explained.
Therefore, the school hopes not only to recycle bottle caps in the future but also containers.
“This would allow us to work with other volumes to manufacture some things that we can offer to the community,” expressed De Niro.
Environmental Expo: education and awareness
The initiative of EPET 10, called “We Recycle the Present and Design the Future,” was presented at the II Environmental Expo along with more than ten educational stands.
Among them participated Colegio Belgrano with “Higienagua,” School No. 44, JIN No. 10, and organizations such as the Municipal Eco Market and the Secretariat of Mining and Energy of La Pampa.
During the day, talks were held on topics such as rabies and sterilizations, global warming and responsible energy use, aimed at students and the general public.
The director of the municipality’s Environment, Camilo Ordóñez, highlighted the “very nice, innovative, and interesting projects” presented.
“In schools, a lot of work is done with proposals ranging from innovation in recycling to manufacture useful objects, innovation in water bottling, ways to work the soil more sustainably, the renewable energy alternatives we have in La Pampa,” he concluded.
