Who We Are
The "Don't Drop the Top" movement was initiated by me, Sophia Mense, a Girl Scout Senior in the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital. I am in tenth grade in the Global Ecology House at Poolesville High School. I started Girl Scouts in second grade as a Brownie in the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways council. This website and its corresponding Facebook page, are part of my Girl Scout Gold Award project “Don’t’ Drop the Top”. The project combines art and science to educate and raise awareness of the harmful effects of plastic bottle tops on marine wildlife and to promote the recycling of bottle tops.
The Inspiration
On an April 2014 family trip to the Florida Keys my family and I took a tour of The Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida and received a 20 minute presentation on turtles. We learned about the four most common kinds of turtles, what treatments and recovery plans the turtles were undergoing during their stay at the hospital and what caused the injuries. We saw the turtles themselves and came to understand what each one’s story was. It was here where I discovered that one of the leading causes for a turtle to be admitted the hospital was because of consumption of plastics and other ocean pollution. I bonded specifically with one of the Juvenile Loggerhead turtles that had just passed the last of the five pounds of debris lodged in its digestive track. One of the staff members showed me a shocking image of all of the garbage passed through a different turtle the size of a large dinner plate. I realized then, that there must be more marine life affected by this cause.
This was confirmed when we visited the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center, a wildlife rehabilitation site in Tavernier, Florida. Again, the issue of ocean debris was the cause of many birds being treated at the facility. There were many different species of birds affected, it wasn’t only one. Over and over and over again the issue kept coming up. The more I looked, the more marine life I discovered were victims of plastic pollution.
We also visited the Theater of the Sea in Islamorada, Florida. Here we saw dolphins, sea lions, fish, sharks and more turtles. The staff emphasized the need to keep our oceans clean for the health of marine life.
With the topic of plastics still on my mind, we went to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef Stare Park. I was just about to get in the water when I found a bright red bottle cap that was half-buried in front of my foot. I looked down the shore line and also noticed a blue and a white one. I kept walking down the beach and noticed more and more bottle caps that were buried in the sand or lying on the sea grass. I picked up all of the caps that I saw and laid them out on a beach towel. I counted 43 bottle caps. I realized then that the plastic issue was a reality.
When I came home, plastic caps was all I could focus on. Everywhere I went I saw caps -- on the road side, my school campus, playing fields, parks, and lying next to many trash cans.
I stated to look in trash cans and recycling bins. In some I noticed caps were on, and in others caps were not on the corresponding bottle. I had always recycled my caps on my bottles, but It occurred to me that others didn’t.
I looked to see if Montgomery County Maryland allowed people to recycle tops. They did, but I'd been doing it wrong! I should have been taking the caps off of the bottles.
I asked my neighbors and friends if they knew they could recycle caps and if they knew how to do so. Many had no idea.
This is the moment where everything came together. People didn’t know how to properly take care of their plastics, specifically bottle caps. As a result they were getting into our ocean and impacting our beloved marine life.
Something so small could have such a large impact and nobody knew.
I decided to commit myself to spreading awareness about the impact of these little tops -- to tell everyone: "Don’t Drop the Top!"
I stated to look in trash cans and recycling bins. In some I noticed caps were on, and in others caps were not on the corresponding bottle. I had always recycled my caps on my bottles, but It occurred to me that others didn’t.
I looked to see if Montgomery County Maryland allowed people to recycle tops. They did, but I'd been doing it wrong! I should have been taking the caps off of the bottles.
I asked my neighbors and friends if they knew they could recycle caps and if they knew how to do so. Many had no idea.
This is the moment where everything came together. People didn’t know how to properly take care of their plastics, specifically bottle caps. As a result they were getting into our ocean and impacting our beloved marine life.
Something so small could have such a large impact and nobody knew.
I decided to commit myself to spreading awareness about the impact of these little tops -- to tell everyone: "Don’t Drop the Top!"
The "Don't Drop the Top" Project
There are two parts to my project:
The first part of my project is an electronic media campaign including this educational website, and a Facebook site to highlight the problem of marine debris and to let people know what they can do to help.
Please visit and like the Don't Drop the Top Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/dontdropthetop
The second part is a bottle cap mosaic mural inspired by the work of artist Michelle Stitlzein that that my team and I will help the students of Poolesville Elementary School design and assemble via an after school club. Click on the More tab and then Bottlecap Mosaic Mural Project at Poolesville Elementary School at the top of this page to see more about the project. To keep updated on the mural project, be sure and like the Facebook site and come back to visit the Mural Project page on this site often.
The first part of my project is an electronic media campaign including this educational website, and a Facebook site to highlight the problem of marine debris and to let people know what they can do to help.
Please visit and like the Don't Drop the Top Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/dontdropthetop
The second part is a bottle cap mosaic mural inspired by the work of artist Michelle Stitlzein that that my team and I will help the students of Poolesville Elementary School design and assemble via an after school club. Click on the More tab and then Bottlecap Mosaic Mural Project at Poolesville Elementary School at the top of this page to see more about the project. To keep updated on the mural project, be sure and like the Facebook site and come back to visit the Mural Project page on this site often.
Don't Drop the Top © 2014 Sophia Mense