MADISON, Wis. — A group of kids at Madison’s Preschool of the Arts is helping keep plastic out of landfills. With several local municipalities recently ending their plastic bag recycling programs, the projects couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I call them my little eco warriors because they talk a lot about what we can do and the impact that plastic has on the environment,” said teacher Emma Sams. “Because of the pandemic, we had to switch to family-style meals to pre-package snacks at school and we were generating a ton of plastics.”
As a way to reuse that plastic, the kids are making eco bricks. They take plastic milk cartons and stuff them full with smaller plastic pieces until they’re heavy enough and packed to form a solid “brick”. The bricks are then stacked and used to build projects like a garden wall, which the kids are currently building.
“We’ve probably collected at least 100 paper bags of plastics and I think we’ve done like 50 eco bricks,” Sams said.
The idea for their project started after they watched a video of students in South America making an entire school building using the same type of eco bricks.
“This is something that started in Asia and South America as a way for indigenous communities to get rid of the garbage they had in their villages,” Sams said. “They’re really durable and so you can use them to build benches or low walls for kids to climb on. I’ve seen pictures of people using them as chairs and seats inside.”
While the kids are helping keep plastic out of landfills, they’re also learning valuable lessons along the way that could help shape their future.
Preschooler Roz Tucker said, “It goes in the ocean and when it goes in the ocean, there’s sea creatures living in the ocean and then they eat it and they get sick. So instead of putting it in the garbage, we are putting it in a milk jug so we can make a wall for the garden.”
Sams said the students are starting with smaller projects but hope to eventually expand their ideas and materials to build larger scale projects in the future.
“We would eventually like to build a little play castle for the kids to play in out of eco bricks. We’ve seen a lot of designs in different communities that have done that,” Sams said. “Really, the sky is the limit on what we can make.”
If you would like to donate plastic to the kids, please contact staff at Preschool of the Arts.
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