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Greengineers•(From left to right) Pawel Klim, Evan Hernandez, Krusha Shah, Jamie Schuberth, Jill Shah, and Ms. Colleen Brandner•Teacher Advisor: Ms. Colleen Brandner•Bartlett High School•Bartlett, IL

Land/Water Challenge #1

Final Challenge

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PART 1: What’s the environmental issue? Despite awareness to reduce usage of plastic water bottles, people continue to use these

bottles, whether it be for convenience or the idea that bottled water is cleaner than tap water. However, we found that after using the bottles, they are not disposed of properly, posing a threat to the environment.

Commonly, plastic bottles are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource, meaning that once the petroleum is used it cannot be replaced. Throwing plastic bottles in the landfill takes them hundreds of years to decompose. One ton of plastic thrown away takes up to 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space, and it consumes excessive amounts of water and energy when manufactured. All that can be done to reuse plastic is necessary to protect the environment.

There are three main issues we focused on with disposal of the plastic bottles: recycling the water bottle, taking off the cap before recycling the bottle, and disposing of any liquid still left in the bottle. The cap cannot be recycled with the bottle because they are made of different plastics: polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate, respectively. Polyethylene terephthalate is more commonly recycled. When the plastics are melted together as part of the recycling process, they contaminate one another and no longer makes the plastic usable. It is a common misconception that the cap and the bottle can be recycled, and that it is okay to recycle bottles with water still in them.

Recycling plastic water bottles properly can conserve enough energy to light a 60 watt light bulb for up to six hours, and recycling one pound of plastic water bottles saves about 12,000 BTUs of heat energy. Seeing this, the Greengineers took the initiative to focus on this issue for the Final Challenge, in relation to land/water.

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PART 2: What are the objectives?

MEASURING SUCCESS AND QUANTIFYING IMPACT• We will track the number of video views for our PSA video on YouTube to

measure how successful it was in spreading the message.

• The prototype will be placed in our school cafeteria for three days and at the end of each period, for 4 periods each day, the number of empty plastic water bottles and caps collected in our bin will be compared to that of one school recycling bin in the cafeteria. This way we will be able to see which collected more and see how our bin encouraged more users.

• We will also track how many of the 300 flyers made were taken by an individual to measure success in spreading the message through this method.

• The number of “likes” on our Facebook page will be noted as more students become aware of this issue after seeing and/or using our prototype.

As these numbers increase, our success in creating an impact with regards to this issue increases, especially when people are motivated to follow the proper method of disposal after being encouraged with our prototype that we will create.

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PART 3: What’s your action plan?Our Action Plan is a four-prong approach to solving the problem:

1. PROTOTYPE TO ENCOURAGE PROPER DISPOSAL– Our primary method of raising awareness is by building a prototype recycling bin which will

encourage consumers to properly dispose of their plastic water bottles. – Our goal is to psychologically motivate users with a prototype recycling bin that we will build.

This prototype would trigger interesting, positive sounds when they dispose of plastic bottles, caps, or excess liquid (if necessary) in our bin down the appropriate hole and into the respective container for each of the three items. With each encouraging sound, the user would be more inclined to properly dispose of plastic bottles because it is “fun” to do so with the noises. The noises would be triggered with sensors at each hole, programmed with an Arduino on a breadboard.

– Not only do we hope to encourage separation of plastic water bottles from their caps and any excess water but we also hope to encourage consumers to recycle plastic water bottles in general.

– We will compare our prototype bin to one recycling bin in the Bartlett High School cafeteria for 3 days and count which collects more empty plastic bottles and caps.

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PART 3: What’s your action plan? 2. COMMUNITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

– While there is a wide range of awareness which has been raised in the past years to reduce how many plastic water bottles are used, there is a low level of pubic awareness for proper disposal of these bottles.

– We will create a Community Awareness campaign called “ECOTAINMENT” to help educate the general public about the importance of proper disposal of plastic bottles, with separating the bottle from the caps and any excess liquid that remains and recycling only the bottle.

– The campaign will be promoted primarily through an article in the school newspaper along with flyers to be handed out to the public. Also, awareness will be raised through the popular social media site Facebook.

Flyer to hand out to every user of the prototype and

around the communityFacebook page made to raise

awareness

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PART 3: What’s your action plan?

3. CONTACTING LOCAL RECYCLING COMPANIES – In order to gain support from local recycling companies and to promote our

movement in the community, we will contact Schaumburg Recycling Company, Chicago Plastic Recycler, and Elgin Recycling via email and phone calls.

– With their support, we will gain credibility and support to motivate the general public to stop recycling the caps or water with the bottles and to start recycling the bottle in the first place.

– We will ask these facilities to endorse our project and movement and give any opinions or support as all help will be appreciated.

Contacting Elgin Recycling via email

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PART 3: What’s your action plan?

4. PSA Video– As another method of spreading the message about how improper recycling

of plastic water bottles is hurting the environment is through an informational video created by the Greengineers. This is also part of the ECOTAINMENT campaign.

– The video will be uploaded onto YouTube for others to view and also be informed of the issue. This will serve as one centralized place to find information about proper recycling of these bottles and why we should care, as it is a popular site that the public uses.

Creating a PSA video

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PART 4: Team ResponsibilitiesEvan Hernandez – Leader

•Keep team focused, striving for a unanimous and strong group

•Lead discussions, coordinate group meetings, delegate tasks

•Main video and website developer; take pictures and videos for documentation

•Strategic communications planning

Jamie Schuberth - Secretary

•Take notes while team brainstorms

•Record all information that team members can refer to

•Format discussions and research into a cohesive document

•Creative development of ECOTAINMENT campaign

Jill Shah – Timeline Management and Testing Coordinator•Ensure that all PSA's and announcements run according to schedule•Plan out when tasks should be accomplished•Set milestones for team and project•Create test plan and procedure for placing prototype in school cafeteria•Document data analysis after testing

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PART 4: Team Responsibilities

Pawel Klim – Research And Development•Ensure that all information regarding disposal of plastic bottles, caps and liquids is accurate•Research recycling process for plastic water bottles and analyze statistics about recycling plastic

•Environmental impact research

Krusha Shah – Community Contacts•Contact local recycling centers•Find community centers willing to let us hand out flyers or promote our prototype•Ask contacts for any information they feel may be necessary•Create Facebook page

The Greengineers as a Team – Building and Testing•Brainstorm ideas and create sketches for prototype; choose final design•Build prototype and program electronics (sensors programmed with Arduino on a breadboard to trigger encouraging noises)•Test in Bartlett High School cafeteria and collect data for three days

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PART 5: How did you implement your ideas and raise awareness in the community?

• We developed the ECOTAINMENT Campaign for public awareness.

• We passed out ECOTAINMENT flyers to raise awareness when someone disposed of an empty bottle or cap at our school and around the community.

• We created a prototype to psychologically encourage proper disposal of plastic water bottles by separating the bottle, caps, and an excess water through positive noises.

• We created a Public Service Video for awareness building and education on proper recycling of plastic water bottles and why it is important at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q1GgFfl_Uw

• Our team created a Facebook page www.facebook.com/TheGreengineersEcotainment regarding this issue to spread the word.

• Our team spoke to students and staff around Bartlett High School, the majority in the cafeteria when they disposed of their plastic water bottles in our prototype bin.

• We approached Schaumburg Recycling Company, Chicago Plastic Recycler, and Elgin Recycling for an endorsement or support. We gave them statistics regarding the issue, sent our flyer, and included details about our prototype to gain their perspectives on the matter in hope of spreading the message to a larger audience.

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PART 6: Evaluate your plan. What are the results?In what ways was your plan effective?

– We successfully created an awareness campaign and gained attention for eco-friendly proper disposal of plastic water bottles.

– Contacts with our community through implementations of our ideas and action plan (primarily with our prototype) have confirmed a community interest in the eco-friendly movement.

• This will allow us to continue our movement and help make a difference in properly recycling these plastics so non-renewable petroleum is not consumed as rapidly as it is being used now. Landfill space won't be occupied with as much plastic as well, and excessive amounts of water and energy will be saved.

– We collected over 200 plastic water bottles and caps within the course of three days, during the time period of four 50-minute periods each day at school.

– Our prototype recycling bin collected more plastic water bottles than the designated school recycling bin, showing us that our prototype was motivating in properly recycling the plastic water bottles.

Testing prototype in cafeteria

Collected plastic bottles and caps

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PART 6: Evaluate your plan. What are the results?

What challenges did you face?– Our greatest challenge was time. The programming of the electronics was most

time-consuming because as mistakes were made, debugging the Arduino on a breadboard became tedious. Patience was essential to ensure the built prototype was compatible with the Arduino so that the noises were triggered correctly when a plastic bottle, cap, or any excess liquid was disposed of in our bin.

What were the quantifiable results?– We handed out more than 200 ECOTAINMENT educational flyers in our high

school and local community. – 135 empty plastic water bottles and 126 caps were collected with just our

prototype. This was more than that collected in the school's recycling bin.– Our Facebook page earned over 100 “likes” since it was created; our video on

YouTube also earned views.

We plan to continue tracking the number of flyers handed out, bottles or caps collected, “likes” earned on Facebook, and views earned on YouTube with these various methods of spreading the word.

PART 6: Evaluate your plan. What are the results?

Was it a SUCCESS?– In spreading the message about how this is a serious problem unknown to the greater

public, our Facebook page, YouTube video, flyers, and our prototype made a huge impact. We encouraged students and staff around our school to recycle only the bottles, separated from the caps or liquids; this was done primarily with our constructed prototype and the positive noises it made each time an item was thrown out in the appropriate container. We saw students follow the correct technique on their own in the hallways and in classrooms after hearing about our movement; awareness was spread around the community and people took action. We even had one individual come to us with 30 empty plastic bottles, caps removed, to show us what we had inspired her family to do.

What did you learn from this experience?– There is little awareness in our own community (and nationwide) about the proper disposal

of plastic bottles.

– It will be difficult to change how people throw away plastic bottles since they have been doing it a certain, convenient way their entire lives. With our psychological method and encouragement, however, it will be possible to change the process for the betterment of the environment.

– Additional attention needs to be placed on proper recycling of plastic bottles rather than just on reducing usage of plastic bottles as they clearly have not disappeared yet. Attention on the impact of not following proper recycling is just as important because people will not change their actions until they realize why it is necessary to recycle plastic bottles correctly.

– Readily available recycling events or locations promoting this movement would be helpful.

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What will your team/school/teacher advisor do with their winnings?

• The school and teacher will invest the prize money into the Bartlett High School Science, Engineering, and High Technology Academy, which fosters future engineers in an advanced program. It will also be used to fund academic clubs focused around science, math, and engineering, such as HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America – Future Health Professionals) competitions, Mathlete competitions, and TSA (Technology Student Association) competitions.

• The team members of the Greengineers are all seniors at Bartlett High School who are college-bound and will use the prize money, if selected as winners, to help pay for college tuition. Some funds will also be used for continued development of the ECOTAINMENT movement to expand on the prototype with additional sounds that will be triggered (introducing negative sounds to reduce incorrect recycling) as well as smoother execution of the process and a clean finish to the prototype for an attractive appeal to users.

Additional information about the steps the Greengineers took to come this far with the ECOTAINMENT campaign as well as our next steps in advancing with this project can be found on the following website: http://thegreengineersecotainment.wikispaces.com/

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Project Gallery

Final built prototype bin!

Building the prototype!

Creating the Video!

Testing the prototype to

ensure sensors were triggered

when disposing a bottle!

Programming the Arduino!

Creating sketches of prototype

design!

VIEW LARGER PHOTO GALLERY AT THEGREENGINEERSECOTAINMENT.WIKI

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