Feb 2, 2024 4 min read

Lynda Balslev

This recipe is my attempt to confront a sweltering day with a plate of fiery food. Chicken thighs are great for roasting and grilling.

It may look like a typical bench, but the gray bench located near the pollinator garden at Peters Township Library is anything but.

The 185-pound bench is made from recycled caps.

“When you open up a refrigerator door, you have ketchup, relish, mustard bottles with caps. Everybody has hundreds of plastic caps they don’t realize they have – caps from spray paint cans, laundry soap, deodorant, medicine bottles, spice jars,” said Fern Sibert, founder and director of the nonprofit Clean and Tidy Our County Inc.

The nonprofit collects non-recyclable plastic caps, then hauls them to Green Tree Recycling in Evansville, Ind., a company that turns the caps into benches and picnic tables.

On Thursday, Giant Oaks Garden Club hosted a dedication of the eco-friendly bench it adopted from Clean And Tidy.

In the last three years, the garden club’s 68 members have collected more than 100,000 non-biodegradable bottle caps, which the club has donated to several cap collecting efforts, including Clean and Tidy, launched in February 2023.

The garden club’s goal is to generate interest in the conservation of the environment, and Clean and Tidy’s mission is to take non-recyclable plastic and create park benches and picnic tables that local groups and businesses can “adopt.”

At the dedication, Giant Oaks Garden Club chaplain Betty Amato said of the garden club’s efforts to collect and recycle the bottle caps, “This effort was to find a way to use bottle caps for a good cause and protect the environment … you can be proud of your efforts. Instead of adding to the trash in the landfills, we have a nice bench for people to sit and relax and enjoy the scenery.”

Mary Dunbar, a member of the garden club, said the group became interested in recycling plastic caps and lids after a presentation by Mike Stout, president of the Izaak Walton League in Allegheny County, whose members target global pollution, especially that created by plastics.

Environmental group earth911.com estimates that Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles each hour, and every one of them is manufactured with a cap.

“We were inspired to do our small part to save the planet by collecting the caps,” she said.

Sibert said Clean and Tidy has distributed 28 benches to locations throughout Washington County, including Washington Park.

It requires about 200 pounds of donated caps to build a 6-foot bench and costs $350.

She said the project has grown into more than what she originally expected, and said the community support has been “awesome.”

“People have gotten on board with this so much more than I ever thought,” said Sibert.

Her goal is to collect enough plastic caps from the Giant Oaks Garden Club and other donors in the community to make more than 150 benches to replace aging wooden benches in Washington County parks and public areas.

Several schools, including Madonna Catholic, businesses and townships, including Cross Creek, West Bethlehem, and Buffalo townships, have been involved with collections. West Alexander Fair also has partnered.

There are local plastic cap collection sites throughout the county, including Washington Park, Washington Senior Center, Citizens Library, Peters Township Library, and Peters Township Municipal Building.

Sibert also is seeking volunteers to help sort and clean bottle caps. On Saturday at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Washington, Clean and Tidy, with the help of community volunteers, plans to sort 6,000 pounds of caps collected in recent months.

Clean and Tidy is planning to haul another shipment of bottle caps to Green Tree Recycling in mid-March, and still has 12 benches available for purchase. She said businesses, organizations, and individuals are welcome to adopt a bench ($350) or picnic table ($750).

Sibert said the benches are designed to last about 100 years.

“I’ve been getting calls from other counties who are interested in the benches,” said Sibert. “I’m glad this has been going so well. It keeps the plastic out of the landfill, and that’s my main goal. A friend of mine said, ‘Fern, you asked for bottle caps, you got them.'”

For information about purchasing a bench, or to volunteer, visit the facebook page Clean and Tidy Our County, or visit https://cleanupourcountyinc.business.site.