More than two years after it started, an effort to turn plastic lids into sturdy benches is still going strong in Brown County.
The Brown County Recycle Center picked up another load of benches in early January, and other the past several weeks, they’ve been installed in several places around the county.
Each bench is made from 200 pounds of plastic bottle caps and manufactured by Green Tree Plastics in Evansville. It’s the only company in the world that makes this type of bench, said Brown County Solid Waste Management District Director Phil Stephens.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“They are extremely sturdy and heavy,” Stephens said, “weighing in at over 150 pounds.”
Since around the fall of 2018, residents have been saving and donating certain types of plastic to go toward benches that government entities, local businesses and private individuals have ordered.
Bottle caps and lids from milk jugs, detergent bottles, hairspray, toothpaste and ointment tubes, deodorant, spray paint and drink bottles, as well as lids from cottage cheese-type containers, peanut butter and mayonnaise jars and prescription bottles are all acceptable. Flip-top and spout caps from mustard and ketchup bottles also can be used, along with caps that have the recycle numbers 2, 4 and 5.
Any caps and lids that residents turn in at the recycle center in Nashville go into a “pool” of collections, Stephens said. Even now, when the drive-thru at the recycle center is closed, residents can still donate caps and lids by leaving them in a bag in the plastic recycling bins outside or leaving them outside the recycle center door.
The first benches were delivered nearly two years ago for Brown County schools in order to show local students the power of recycling.
A fire broke out in the Green Tree Plastics facility in August 2020, but the company was able to recover by October and keep producing recycled products.
The newest benches are being added at the Brown County Music Center, the courthouse veterans memorial, St. David’s Episcopal Church and the Men’s Toy Shop. The town of Nashville is also going to receive two benches.
In addition to the plastic to make the benches, each bench costs $250 to $325, depending on the color. Available colors are gray, green, yellow, blue, red, orange, brown or rainbow.
Students in Brown County High School’s Eagle Manufacturing program are able to make dedication plaques to place on the benches at a low cost, Stephens said.
Anyone who wishes to purchase a bench can call the recycle center at 812-988-0140.
