A new recycling project from MiniGIN, a group of about 50-60 MS students supervised by Luz Myriam Arango, is teaching TCS students the importance of Refusing, Reducing, Reusing and Recycling.

The MiniGIN plastic project that started the first week of December of last year, the MS students want to teach the whole school the importance of the 4R’s and the effects of plastic today. This project is replacing the La Guajira campaign because they want to make a greater local impact here in Antioquia. This recycling project is a campaign between the school and llenando botellas de amor to fill up plastic bottles with wrappers and industrialize them into plastic wood.

“The humanitarian impact of La Guajira is something that will be missed in The new destiny, Tatacoa and San Agustin trip, so this project will replace it and will have a direct impact knowing that Llenando botellas de Amor will create parks and homes here in Antioquia,” Arango said.

The school is concerned about single-use plastic. There are foundations that recycle these plastics such as disposable cutlery, candy, market or snack wrappers, and a foundation such as Llenando Botellas de Amor back to the industry with the plastic wood.

“Once you finish eating candy, you put the wrapper inside the bottle and then once the bottle is full you take it to botellas de amor, they break it down and converted into plastic wood,” Luciana Restrepo, Grade 8, said.

This is a long term project knowing they need to cover all the school doing presentations, but with the help of the student’s parents, this will be much easier to accomplish.

“The help of student moms will contribute so much with the donations and support of the presentations and the contacts from Llenando botellas de amor I’m sure that with this help this project will be a complete success and hopefully will affect many communities,” Arango, said.

For the week of December 9, there will be a gathering of plastic bottles full of wrappers by the makerspace the one everyone in the school can put his bottle of love, then this foundation will pick it up and make their respective industrialization process.

“This project is going to reduce so much the carbon footprint of school, I can’t wait for the gathering of plastic bottles is settled, at this moment I have already 3 filled up ready to donate,” Amalia Sierra, Grade 8, said.

The MiniGIN’s goal with this project is to change students thinking about plastic, where they start to refuse it. In the Columbus School, students lack awareness about this big issue and can be changed with this group of students with these presentations.

“With this initiative, we will create awareness in the school to reject plastic, a TCS student has to know the effects of plastic, the damage it causes in society and the desire to reduce the carbon footprint and reduce all this from climate change,” Santiago Restrepo, Grade 10, said.