POOLEVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOTTLECAP MOSAIC
Scroll down this page
to learn about the message behind the mural,
to find out about the inspiration for the project
and to follow the process from start to finish.
To learn more about Sophia Mense, the initiator of the "Don't Drop the Top" movement,
click on the "Girl Scouts Gold Award" Project under the "More" link above.
to learn about the message behind the mural,
to find out about the inspiration for the project
and to follow the process from start to finish.
To learn more about Sophia Mense, the initiator of the "Don't Drop the Top" movement,
click on the "Girl Scouts Gold Award" Project under the "More" link above.
The Message Behind the Mural
As detailed elsewhere on the pages of this website, bottle caps are often so small that it is easy to overlook the impact they have on the environment. If you drop one on the ground at the park or the beach, you may think it is not important. However, little caps bobbing in the water can look like an easy meal for a wide variety of wildlife, from fish and sea turtles to marine birds. The animals eat the tops, feel full, do not eat real food and die from starvation. Plastic bottle tops are one of the top 10 items found during marine debris beach clean-ups worldwide and are the second most littered item after cigarette butts. According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, over 100 million marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. Most trash that ends up in the water begins its journey on land.
People do not know how to properly take care of their plastics, specifically bottle caps. As a result they are getting into our ocean and impacting our beloved marine life. The ocean-themed mural made out of thousands of bottle tops is a concrete example of the large impact a great number of bottle caps has.
People do not know how to properly take care of their plastics, specifically bottle caps. As a result they are getting into our ocean and impacting our beloved marine life. The ocean-themed mural made out of thousands of bottle tops is a concrete example of the large impact a great number of bottle caps has.
The Inspiration for the Project
I wanted a concrete way to show my local community and students the large impact such a small thing like a bottle cap could have. Then I remembered an art project I saw. I am a year round lacrosse player, and at the location of my fall ball league, East Middle School in Westminster MD, I saw a small free standing mosaic of the school’s mascot, a bulldog, made of bottle caps.
This was it. An art project made out of caps would be a great way to bring attention to bottle tops. I hoped that asking people to donate bottle caps to make a mural at the elementary school would give my community and people all over the country an incentive to save their caps and in turn force them to pay attention to the quantity of caps they had accumulated in just a short period of time and to learn that they should try and recycle them. It would educate them without boring them and the message would stick with them. |
I looked around the internet searching for anything similar to the dog and I discovered the work of artist Michelle Stitlzein. Click here to go to her website to see some fabulous examples of her work.
I bought her book Bottlecap Little Bottlecap. It gives step by step instructions for art projects using recycled plastic bottle caps. I got excited about the large murals made out of bottlecaps. They show how a lot of bottle caps, something so small taken together, can have a large impact! Exactly the message I wanted to get across!
Here are some bottle cap murals similar to Ms. Stitlzein's work:
Using Michelle Stitzlein's book as a guide, my team and I will help the students of Poolesville Elementary School (PES) design and assemble an ocean-themed mural made out of bottle tops.
Mr. Doug Robbins, PES Principal, is very supportive of the project and suggested that we form an after-school club for the mosaic creation.
- The students and the whole Poolesville community will learn the importance of not dropping the top, by saving tops for the creation of the mural.
- The mural will get young children involved with recycling in a very hands on way.
- Hopefully by helping design the mural, creating the mural and seeing the mural, the students will really remember the importance of not dropping the top!
- The ocean theme of the mural will raise awareness of the harmful effects of plastic bottle caps on marine life.
- The message will live on not only in the students who are actively involved in the process of creating the mural, but also in future students of PES who see the mural in their All Purpose Room while they eat lunch.
- The whole Poolesville Community will see the project when they attend musical performances, family and movie nights at school and vote.
- The mural will demonstrate in a concrete way how such a small thing like a bottle cap can have a huge impact when you have a lot of them.
Mr. Doug Robbins, PES Principal, is very supportive of the project and suggested that we form an after-school club for the mosaic creation.
Click on the images below to see the slideshow of what we think the mural process will be:
We'll keep you updated as to how we actually do it here!
** Be sure and check back often for updates. **
First: Collect Bottle Tops
COLLECTION ENDED 12/19/14!!
We are not accepting any more tops!!
First step is to get bottle tops. Artist Stitlzien suggests we'll need 9,000 - 10,000 of them to make an 8 x 10 foot mural!
E-Community Collection
Want to help? We'd love your tops!
We take any kind of clean plastic top! The more colorful the better. Think:
Soda bottles
Juice bottles
Sports drinks
Water bottles
Milk jugs
Coffee cans
Ketchup bottles
Shampoo bottles
Toothpaste tubes
Ice cream cartons
Pill bottles
Detergents
Aerosol cans
Salad dressing bottles...
We take any kind of clean plastic top! The more colorful the better. Think:
Soda bottles
Juice bottles
Sports drinks
Water bottles
Milk jugs
Coffee cans
Ketchup bottles
Shampoo bottles
Toothpaste tubes
Ice cream cartons
Pill bottles
Detergents
Aerosol cans
Salad dressing bottles...
You can send them to:
Don't Drop the Top
c/o Poolesville Elementary School
9565 Fisher Ave.
Poolesville, MD 20837
*** Shipping costs will have to be on you.
Please!
Our goal is to finish the bottle cap drive by mid-December 2014 to give us time enough to sort the tops so that the club can start assembling the mural in January 2015.
Don't Drop the Top
c/o Poolesville Elementary School
9565 Fisher Ave.
Poolesville, MD 20837
*** Shipping costs will have to be on you.
Please!
- let us know how many tops are in your package
- make sure your tops are clean
- make sure your tops are all plastic, and
- include a note to to tell us who you are.
Our goal is to finish the bottle cap drive by mid-December 2014 to give us time enough to sort the tops so that the club can start assembling the mural in January 2015.
10/17/14 - I was one of thousands of Girl Scouts that headed to Salt Lake City, UT for the Girl Scouts of the USA's 53rd National Council Session and Convention, October 17-19, 2014. I went as an alternate Delegate representing the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital (GSCNC). While there I attended the Girl Scout Leadership Institute.
When Girl Scouts get together they trade SWAPs, a small token to be remembered by. To draw attention to the
Don’t Drop the Top project, my SWAP listed both the project Facebook site and this
website. I gave out over a hundred of them to Girl Scouts from all over the USA and the world attending the convention and the Leadership Institute. I was really excited about the positive response I received. I was even more thrilled about how many people told me they'd spread the word to others on my behalf!
Poolesville Community Collection
COLLECTION DRIVE IS DONE ~ ALL COLLECTION BOXES HAVE BEEN PULLED!
8/9/14 - First collection box is up! We scrambled a bit (a team effort coordinating efforts between North Carolina and Poolesville ). It is at Whalen Commons behind the band shell for the Poolesville Music & Arts Festival (PooMAFest)! It is a temporary collection point. It's just there for the day.
8/13/14 - Long term collection boxes have been created and put in place at
We posted on the Town of Poolesville Community Information Facebook page and sent an email to the Poolesville Area Parents Yahoo Group as well as the Shutterfly site for the Girl Scouts and Parents in our Service Unit to let everyone know they are there.
We plan to keep the collection boxes in place until just before Christmas. They will be removed on 12/19/14!!
- Poolesville Town Hall,
- the Poolesville Branch of the Montgomery County Library,
- the Poolesville CVS and
- at Poolesville Hardware Store.
We posted on the Town of Poolesville Community Information Facebook page and sent an email to the Poolesville Area Parents Yahoo Group as well as the Shutterfly site for the Girl Scouts and Parents in our Service Unit to let everyone know they are there.
We plan to keep the collection boxes in place until just before Christmas. They will be removed on 12/19/14!!
9/16/14 - New collection point! A donation box is now at John Poole Middle School in the front hall under the display case!
9/20/14 - Poolesville Day is an all day festival held in downtown
Poolesville that, according to its website, attracts 8,000 – 9,000 people. There is a parade, music performances, rides,
food, arts and craft vendors and informational booths for local clubs and organizations. Our Girl Scout Service Unit 32-11, has a booth at
Poolesville Day every year. The SU
reserves a corner of its booth for local Girl Scouts to share their Take
Action, Bronze, Silver or Gold projects with the community.
I set up a bottle cap sorting and education and awareness station at the booth, as well a donation box for people to drop their tops. I talked to those who visited the booth and handed out flyers with information about the Don't Drop the Top project including this website and the Facebook site where they could go for more information.
Here is the Don’t Drop the Top display that was at the booth.
I set up a bottle cap sorting and education and awareness station at the booth, as well a donation box for people to drop their tops. I talked to those who visited the booth and handed out flyers with information about the Don't Drop the Top project including this website and the Facebook site where they could go for more information.
Here is the Don’t Drop the Top display that was at the booth.
PES Community Collection
COLLECTION DRIVE IS DONE ~ ALL COLLECTION BOXES HAVE BEEN PULLED!
We are not accepting any more tops.
9/11/4 - Collection flyer going home to all PES families this week!
A collection bin is on the bench outside the office at PES.
CAP COUNT
As of 8/24/14 - We just broke 1,000 caps collected!!
8/30/14 ~ The total collected from the donation bins in Poolesville just this week was 1,116!!
9/5/14~ Big shout out to the 6th grade students and staff of John Poole Middle School at Outdoor Ed this week in Derwood, MD. They collected 305 caps in only 2.5 days!!
9/7/14 ~ The total from the Poolesville collection boxes this past week was 758.
Bringing the grand total so far to 4,027!! Keep them coming!!
9/12/14 - Total from the collection bins for this week is 1615 - double that of last week!
Grand total so far is 5642!!
9/18/14 - Received 113 caps in the mail from Texas! Thank you Facebook friend!
9/24/14 - More from our Facebook page! Just received 432 tops in the mail from Joplin, Missouri!
9/25/14 - Grand total so far is 6663! Keep them coming!!
10/31/14 Happy Halloween Everyone!
12/19/14 ~ Great last push everyone! We've got bags and bags to clean, sort and count! Thank you for all your donations! We'll post the final cap count when we have it.
12/21/14 ~ The final count is in! We have collected a grand total of 37,269!!!
Thank you so much to all of you who donated caps!! This project wouldn't have been possible without you!
Thank you so much to all of you who donated caps!! This project wouldn't have been possible without you!
1/9/15 ~ You all are amazing! Thanks to your incredible enthusiasm for the project, we have post deadline tops that have come in and need to be counted.
A package of tops came in from the Richardson family in Cleveland, Tennesee! Thank you!
A package of tops came in from the Richardson family in Cleveland, Tennesee! Thank you!
We also collected more from PES and CVS.
1/11/15 ~ This means our final, final count is even higher!
Thanks to your overwhelming support, the final grand total is..... 39,728!!
Thanks to your overwhelming support, the final grand total is..... 39,728!!
Our goal was 10,000 caps, so we collected just about 4 times that amount! We saved almost 40,000 tops from ending up in the ocean over just the last five months.
40,000 tops over 5 months averages to be 8,000 tops a month. In one year that would be 96,000 tops! That's just in our small community. Think of how many tops that is across the country in a year. Now imagine how many it would be worldwide. Now imagine how many that would be in 5 years, in 10... It really is mind blowing.
Take a step back and look at the cap on your soda bottle. It starts there. Each one makes a difference. Each one you keep out of the ocean, you keep out of our marine animals.
40,000 tops over 5 months averages to be 8,000 tops a month. In one year that would be 96,000 tops! That's just in our small community. Think of how many tops that is across the country in a year. Now imagine how many it would be worldwide. Now imagine how many that would be in 5 years, in 10... It really is mind blowing.
Take a step back and look at the cap on your soda bottle. It starts there. Each one makes a difference. Each one you keep out of the ocean, you keep out of our marine animals.
Together we can make sure that
We are thrilled that many of you are in the habit of saving tops. So now instead of dropping them off in the collection bins, drop them in the recycling bin! Remember, if you live in Montgomery County, MD, take your tops off before you recycle them.
*** Important! Some recycling programs recycle plastic bottle tops, but not all do. Plastic tops are typically made from plastic #5 while the bottles they accompany are made from #2. These two types of plastic melt at different temperatures during the recycling process and therefore requiring special processing.
Every area's recycling program is different! Check with your recycling program or Earth911’s recycling directory before you toss your tops into the recycling bin. Once you know your area recycles bottle tops, find out whether your recycler want the tops left on or off. It used to be that consumers were asked to remove the plastic lids from their plastic bottles before recycling, but recycling processing equipment has improved enough over the years to make this request less common.
If Your Local Recycler Doesn't Accept Bottle Tops, Find a Location that Does! Again, Earth911 is the go to source!! It tells you how and where to recycle just about anything, including plastic tops! http://www.earth911.com/recycling-center-search-guides/
Thank you so much!
*** Important! Some recycling programs recycle plastic bottle tops, but not all do. Plastic tops are typically made from plastic #5 while the bottles they accompany are made from #2. These two types of plastic melt at different temperatures during the recycling process and therefore requiring special processing.
Every area's recycling program is different! Check with your recycling program or Earth911’s recycling directory before you toss your tops into the recycling bin. Once you know your area recycles bottle tops, find out whether your recycler want the tops left on or off. It used to be that consumers were asked to remove the plastic lids from their plastic bottles before recycling, but recycling processing equipment has improved enough over the years to make this request less common.
If Your Local Recycler Doesn't Accept Bottle Tops, Find a Location that Does! Again, Earth911 is the go to source!! It tells you how and where to recycle just about anything, including plastic tops! http://www.earth911.com/recycling-center-search-guides/
Thank you so much!
Second: Clean Tops
We really appreciate all of the caps being sent in and dropped off but please. please, please wash your caps before handing them over to us!! It makes the process a lot easier. (Make sure and open up the tops that flip open like those from castsup, grated cheese and shampoo bottles when you clean them to make sure nothing is hiding inside them.) Thank you!
To make sure all the tops used in the mural are clean, we hand wash all collected tops with soap and a little bleach. We also make sure all cardboard inserts are removed.
We then air dry the caps.
Each cap is like a little cup, so we have to flip each cap over so it can dry.
Once the tops are dry, we count them and put them together in a large bin.
Third: Sort Tops by Color
We've put together boxes to hold the first set of sorted tops, and are ready to sort. We have over 30 boxes donated by the PES bookfair committee. They are perfect for the project since the tops are attached and just flip open and close. Colored duck tape works great to quickly color code the boxes and to tape shut the handles so that no caps get loose.
9/19/14 - Want to help sort caps? We'll be at Poolesville Day, tomorrow, Saturday, September 20th, in the Girl Scout booth on Fisher Ave. down by the Post Office. We'll also have a collection bin there.
9/25/14 - Thank you to those of you who stopped by the booth and helped sort caps
at Poolesville Day!
at Poolesville Day!
This is an ongoing process. Every week we retrieve tops from the collection bins, wash them, set them out to dry, and count them. We'll be holding several "sorting parties" over the next few months to sort the collected tops by color. Looks like we'll need to set up some more boxes to hold all the sorted tops!!
12/21/14 ~ A big shout out to Girl Scout Cadette Troop 4300 that incorporated sorting and counting our bottle tops into their holiday party!
Fourth: Time to Design the Mural!
11/20/14 ~ We created a YouTube video that will be shown to all 444 PES students and teachers. It teaches them about the problem of plastics in the ocean and invites students to submit design ideas for the mural.
Sign for design collection box at PES.
Here's the flyer going home to the students' families that asks for design ideas.
The design flyer is also on display on the bulletin board in the front hall of Poolesville Elementary School where parents wait to pick up their children.
12/23/14 ~ PES students are excited about this project!
We received 131 fantastic design idea submissions!
Here is just a sample of a few of them.
We received 131 fantastic design idea submissions!
Here is just a sample of a few of them.
There were even some that drove home our message!
1/4/15 ~ We've created a design for the mural that incorporates as many of the design suggestions as we could. It was done on graph paper to make sure it would fit well on the panels when enlarged. It was colored in with colored pencils to show the color to be used in each section.
We're going to keep the final design a surprise. Keep watching this page in the assembling section below. We'll post updates as the students fill in the caps.
We're going to keep the final design a surprise. Keep watching this page in the assembling section below. We'll post updates as the students fill in the caps.
Fifth: Create a Sample Smaller Mural
11/29/14 - Today we finished prepping (cutting, sanding, and painting) the plywood to be used for a sample mural. The purpose of this sample is to smooth out any bumps in the road that we may encounter during the construction of the large 6'×9' mural. This sample is only 3'×3'. Stay tuned for the design for our mini mural!
11/30/14 - This was the progress of our mini mural today. Recognize the design? It's our very own Don't Drop the Top logo!
12/12/14 ~ This mural is now on display in the front office at Pooelsville Elementary School!
Exciting News! Poolesville Elementary School plans to include our Don't Drop the Top project in its Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) application to become a Maryland Green School!
SIXTH: Invite students to join the Don't Drop the Top after school Club!
The next step is to let PES students know the details of the after school club and invite them to sign up for it.
The PES PTA has the club listed on its website listing of Winter/Spring of 2015 after school programs:
Don’t Drop the Top (Local environmental awareness program)
Don’t Drop the Top (Local environmental awareness program)
- Jan 16 – Feb 20
- Grades 2 – 5, 3:15 – 4:45, Room 18
- 6 classes, FREE, click this link for the the Paper registration form.
- For more information about Don't Drop the Top:
- http://dontdropthetop.weebly.com
Here's the flyer/registration form:
SEVENTH: Prepare Mural Base for Large Mural
1/4/15 ~ We lucked out! Our local Lowes not only donated the plywood for the project, they also cut it to the sizes we need! The plywood is sanded and primed. Now just waiting for the panels to dry.
1/9/15 ~ Next up, placing the outline of the mural design onto the panels. We propped the boards against a wall and then used an Elmo projector to enlarge the original drawing onto the three panels at once so we could link the lines from one board to the next. We used Sharpie markers to trace the outlines onto the wood. A huge thank you to PES art teacher Ms. Cheryl Thomas who let us use her classroom and equipment for the this step.
1/12/15 ~ Final step in prepping the boards for the bottle caps is to paint the mural. The students will use the painted areas as a guide when choosing and placing tops.
We really wanted to have the club students do this step, but we don't have a place at the school to let the panels dry after painting them, and we can't transport them wet. We'll do it and bring the painted panels to the first club meeting.
FINAL STEP and the MOST FUN:
DON'T DROP THE TOP AFTER SCHOOL CLUB!!!
1/16/14~ First day of the club! 23 Students at PES came to learn more about the environment!
We started the club meeting by talking about the Don't Drop the Top design request video they all saw. It was so great to hear how well the message had come across. They really seemed to understand the issue and how they could be part of the solution!
We then read and talked about Pesky Plastic: An Environmental Story by Leticia Colon De Mejias. The book is a children's story about plastic and its impact on our oceans and marine creatures. We talked about how each person's actions directly affect the environment.
Next up the mural! We used the smaller mural to show them bottle cap placement technique. A tool safety demonstration was next with all mimicking the correct way to use a drill. We called up one student to show how to do it.
Finally, the moment they were all waiting for! It was time for everyone to start screwing in bottle tops! We set up seven stations, each with a drill and a club helper. 2 middle school students, 3 high schoolers and 4 adults kept an eye on every student with a drill and provided assistance where necessary. Students within each station worked together in choosing bottle tops for their portion of the mural. Each student screwed in three caps and then passed the drill on to the next student. The process worked really well. No student had a lot of down time.
1/23/15 Week 2 of the club. We had another student join the club this week. We're up to 24!
PES fourth grade teacher Mrs. Kelly Carroll gave the environmental lesson this week. She and the students talked about how long it takes trash to decompose in a landfill and what each of us could do to make a difference.
Next up the students did a self-critique of how the mural looked and the technique they used placing the bottle tops last week. We also did a tool safety review.
A couple new parents came by to help out.
1/30/15 - Week 3! We changed it up a little this week. We started with our safety briefing and then split the group into two. One group went with Mrs. Carroll. The other stayed and worked on the mural. Half way through, we switched.
Mrs. Carroll's group went around the school and placed stickers in classrooms reminding everyone to not waste water or paper and to turn off lights.
Helped by two new high school volunteers and a new parent, students made great progress on the mural.
2/6/15 - Week 4 ~ This week we split into two groups again. We switched activities halfway through so that all students got to do both. The group that wasn't working on caps created and hung posters around the school to remind the PES community to protect our earth.
Here are just a sample of their amazing posters.
The other half continued to fasten caps on the mural.
2/13/15 ~ Week 5 - We're in the home stretch! Most of the detail work was completed in weeks 1-4. It's now time to fill in the large areas! We split into two groups again this week.
One group did Earth Day word searches and crossword puzzles. They then watched a "Bearly Alike", a video that compares animals and humans, in order to help them discover the similarities and differences between humans and animals. They also played an animal guessing game.
We made a lot of progress this week on the mural. We figured out that some of the soft bottle caps like milk tops could be cut in half. This helped a lot in fitting into some of the smaller spaces.
We're excited and confident that we'll finish the mural next week! Watch this space. We'll post photos of the murals progression from sketch to finished project then.
2/26/15 ~ It's finished! The mural is complete! We had a glitch when the last club meeting was cancelled because a burst pipe closed the school. We were able to reschedule just a few days later. Unfortunately, due to the day change, quite a few students couldn't make it to the last meeting and missed the group photo. Fortunately, students who did make it were able to finish it!!
Here it is from sketch to completion.
Here it is from sketch to completion.
4/17/2015 - Visited the school yesterday. The panels have been installed on the front wall of the PES All Purpose Room aka cafeteria. They are covered with paper ready to be unveiled during the school's Earth Day Celebration! Excitement is building in the school, as only the club members have seen the mural.
4/27/2015 Unveiling Day!!!
Principal Mr. Robbins and Mr. Otho (Otis) Weedon, Building Service Manager then climbed the ladders to unveil the mural!
Sophia received lots of high 5s from the students for a job well done!
Don't Drop the Top © 2014 Sophia Mense