A group of Madison City middle school students have worked with the City to establish a system to recycle bottle caps.
The students leading this project are Puja Chopade, Neha Chopade and Timothy Zhu. During their research into an environmental problem students said, “We observed that people in our community recycle plastic bottles along with their plastic caps in their recycling bin. The recycling agency that is in charge of taking the contents of the blue bin however, does not take the plastic bottle caps. The plastic caps either end up in landfills from peoples' garbage, or in waterways harming various types of aquatic life. Either way there is a negative environmental impact since there is no proper recycling for plastic caps in our community.”
Beena Chopade, the Team Advisor says, "Today, when some of our Country's leaders doubt human impact on the environment, it is refreshing and very encouraging to find a progressive and supportive leader in a small town of Madison, AL, who did not think twice to back the leaders of tomorrow in their endeavor to enlighten every resident of Madison to do their part for their environment. We are very thankful for our Mayor, Mr.Finley's support in making our project a reality!"
The team participated in the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) eCybermission Challenge and won first in State of Alabama in 6th-grade division and also was first in the entire SouthEast region of United States. They were also National Finalists.
The recycle bins are located at all Madison City Fire Stations. Once full, the bottle caps will be transported to a warehouse in Huntsville, then move on to be recycled at K.W. Plastics in Troy, Alabama.