Precious Plastics for Kids Youth Program Idea

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Hey Precious Plastic Community!

Ida here from Madison, Wisconsin, USA! I am thinking of building a youth environmental arts program here in Madison that uses the Precious Plastics machines & systems for LEARNING, arts enrichment, & plastic recycling. What do you think? Below is my business idea synopsis.

The “Precious Plastic” Youth Program (Title TBD) aims to introduce an innovative and engaging method of recycling plastics into art forms through environmental and arts education. Four machines will shred, melt, and reform recycled plastic into new, functional, beautiful objects. The machines will be designed to be solar, wind, or bicycle powered. Students will learn about plastic waste in Madison, WI, the USA, and around the globe. Working as a team, students will use the machines and participate in a hands-on experience in order to develop new objects from discarded plastic.

The recycled plastic produced through this program could range from providing sculpture media for art lessons, to mosaic tiles for community art initiatives, to providing new seed flats, flower pots, and garden tools to gardeners; the possibilities of repurposed plastic are endless. Plastic production is continually increasing, and only 10% of plastic is actually recycled.\* This youth program intends to not only address this growing environmental problem, but moreover to inspire young people to live with greater environmental responsibility, expand artistic abilities, and to generate creative solutions for sustainable living in the 21st century. \*epa.gov

Questions for you:
1. Who has made solar or wind powered Precious Plastic Machines? Can you help me connect with them? 🙂
2. Ideas for how to model involving youth?
3. Has anyone else done this yet? Let’s connect!

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Hello Ida,
In regards to involving the youth; you may have the group or class collaborate on designing something they want to create. Then, work with them on creating a mould, and bringing their idea to existence. Ideally having the kids interacting with the formation of the plastics. Using this general model, the kids will be forced to communicate intellectually with one another, while having the benefit of creating environmentally friendly art. Just a thought.

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Hey there!
For sure. I’m a fan of a giving kids a wide range of opportunities to learn and grow from. We could incorporate service learning- like picking up trash, cleaning it, and creating with it, involving students in design education- so guiding them through the design thinking process and giving them choice to create their own products- and real life applications- like selling their work. Thanks for your input!