75,000 bottle caps later, witness the unveiling of #UNLITTER’s sustainable work of art.
A bottle cap: a seemingly insignificant piece of plastic that has a habit of rolling away from us at the most inconvenient of times. For the ones that we do chase after, are we truly helping the environment when disposing them in the nearest garbage can or recycling bin? That’s the problem that #UNLITTER, UF’s chapter of a global nonprofit that promotes sustainable habits through different events, set out to solve.
Shannon Sawtell, a 21-year-old senior double majoring in sustainability and marketing, is the director of #UNLITTER at the University of Florida. She has been working on piecing together a mural of painted bottle caps with Chloe Schwab, the organization’s event coordinator.
“Chloe wanted to bring more attention to the lack of plastic top recycling here in Alachua County,” Shannon said. It’s true, bottle caps are not accepted at recycling plants in the city of Gainesville because of the harder plastic they are made from and their small size that can slip through the gears of machinery.
“When I first joined the #UNLITTER team in the spring of 2021, I wanted to come up with an event idea and community project. I saw a picture of a small-scale plastic bottle cap craft on Pinterest and thought it could be a great mural for #UNLITTER to do,” Chloe Schwab, a 21-year-old senior majoring in marine sciences, said. “I have always been very artistic, and I knew I wanted to further our mission of promoting sustainability with some sort of artistic expression.”
The mural will resemble Payne’s Prairie, a recognizable state park for Gainesville locals. This design was chosen by #UNLITTER member Mayssa Shaloub.
Sawtell estimates that approximately 75,000 bottle caps were used in the art piece: this is compared to the figure of 1,000 bottle caps she predicted back in December of 2021. “From start to finish, we have probably engaged about 200 students, whether they gave us caps or helped out with gluing or painting!” she said. To further engage students near and far, #UNLITTER is also creating a short documentary that will be posted on its YouTube channel. “The main goal of the documentary is to tell the story of how some students were able to collect water bottle caps from around the community and engage everyone to make a difference. The documentary should be finished at the end of this month,” Sawtell said.
“We want people in Gainesville to realize that although the Gainesville ordinance is doing so much for plastic, there is still a lack of capability to recycle something as simple as plastic caps in the county.” The ordinance she’s referring to is an amendment to an article titled “Solid Waste” that was led by Gainesville’s Zero Waste Subcommittee. Among other sustainable efforts, it puts stricter regulations on businesses regarding single-use plastics and the ratio of recycling bins to garbage cans on their premises. This will go into effect in the 2023-2024 year ahead.
“I want UF students to think about how much waste is produced by using plastic water bottles,” Chloe said. “A common line you hear when people are justifying using plastic water bottles is that ‘it’s okay because I will recycle the bottle.’ But what they don’t realize is that plastic bottle caps can’t be recycled with the bottles, and you are still producing large amounts of single-use plastic waste.” This can be seen through how the students were able to collect thousands of bottle caps in mere months, showing that the prevalence of plastic bottle usage is still on the rise. Chloe recommends the simple switch to reusable water bottles, a much better choice for the environment.
“The mural will be hung in City Hall on October 20th at 5:30 PM. We received confirmation from the mayor, Lauren Poe, last November,” Shannon said. “This project has evolved a ton since I first pitched it,” Chloe Schwab said. “I never imagined that we would be presenting at City Hall in front of the mayor of Gainesville and the Gainesville community. It is so heart-warming to see how much this project has grown and how many people have helped with it.”
The end of #UNLITTER’s press release details activities after the unveiling as well. “The event will host local clubs, creators, live music and a bike-powered blender for free smoothies. #UNLITTER provides reflective vests, bags, and grippers for the cleanup. The event will wrap up around 7:30 p.m.” If you’re in Gainesville soon, make sure to check out these events on October 20th to support #UNLITTER’s mission to raise awareness for our environment by creating something beautiful in its honor.