LN – Bottles of Love: the way to recycle plastics that united thousands of young people

It's 7:45 a.m. Keka Dewey (18) arrives at the school and leaves an empty plastic bottle on his bench. Throughout the day, his classmates approach the waste of what they consumed during class and at recess: pens that no longer work, films, wrappers, plastic cutlery and sorbets, among others. Keka grabs that trash, also checks the bins, puts everything inside the bottle and compresses it thoroughly. So until you fill your
“love bottle”, which will then be used to make chairs, tables or pots that are donated for solidarity purposes. “It seems incredible to me how from garbage, you help the environment and other people with concrete actions,” says the teenager.

Since April of this year, Keka participates as a volunteer in the
Fundación Llena Una Botella de Amor, a non-profit organization that encourages the use of so-called “single-use plastics”. That is, those that become trash immediately after consumption, such as cookie wrappers or milk sachets.
With the help of those who fill their bottles with this waste and take them to the collection points of the foundation, then the company
Argentine economy
manufactures furniture of “plastic wood”, which are mostly donated.

“I found out about the foundation on Instagram and it was a before and after. I had been doing actions for the environment but I just realized all the garbage we produced when I started the bottles,” says Keka.
In their environment, when they first saw her collect plastics to fill the bottles, they didn't understand “what she was doing surrounded by so much garbage.” Although at first it cost their parents, then they themselves began to take bottles to their offices. However, among her friends at school, she still could not spread the sustainable fever: “I think everyone has their own awareness process. I did mine this year and I understand that other people may take longer” , Explain.

For Keka, “putting together and collecting these bottles for the foundation is not a hobby.” The adolescent considers it as one of the many contributions that can be made to the environment:
“If these wastes are not used, then plastics can take 100 to 1000 years to degrade. They are very polluting objects.”, highlights. For that reason, he believes that in truth the whole society should get involved: “With small things you can help a lot but it is hard for people to understand the seriousness of the situation.” Even so, she herself in silence and with her example, managed to capture the interest of several close friends: “Family members of mine or classmates realized how easy it was and joined.”
In fact, last month he managed to collect 50 bottles that he took, with his father, to a collection point of the foundation in Vicente López.

But that is not all. At home, the Dewey separated the garbage years ago and recycled organic waste in an Eco House composter.
Also Keka, like many other young people inspired by teenager Greta Thunberg, attended the marches against climate change in March and May and made a change in their daily consumption: for example, she stopped buying plastic toothbrushes and now uses some made with bamboo. “In restaurants I ask all the time if they give the water in a plastic bottle, and if so, I ask another thing to come in a glass or a glass bottle,” he says. In addition, whenever he leaves, he carries a metal sorbet in his wallet.
“They are difficult habits to incorporate, but once you do, change your look completely,” he concludes.

The cycle of “love bottles”

In less than two years, between Fill a Bottle of Love and the company Econciencia Argentina, they recovered 100,000 tons of plastic thanks to the collection of 75,000 bottles donated to them by volunteers, such as Keka Dewey. Mainly, they use social networks to communicate their actions, but also, for the foundation it was essential to start giving talks in schools: “We talk about a conscious subject to another and we explain that if you separate the garbage, you can make plastic wood and donate furniture or entire houses and that arouses the solidarity concern. Bringing the proposal to young people is always a success, “says Ludmila Taraborrelli, coordinator of the Foundation Fill A Bottle of Love. In addition, ensures that in Argentina there are already millions who They fill their bottles:
“There is no ceiling for us and success is due to the good predisposition of the people who help us”.

Between Fill A Bottle of Love and the company Econciencia Argentina, they recovered 100,000 tons of plastic thanks to the collection of 75,000 bottles that they donated.

On the cycle of transformation of the bottles, the foundation coordinator explains: “First, we open the bottle and separate what it has inside. We process the single-use plastic, we take it to a binding machine and with a blade of shredded paper we take it to another machine where all the material is put and by thermofusion, the plastics are injected into a mold.When it is full, we cool it with water and unmold it.The shape of the mold will always be based on that we want to build. ” Ludmila reiterates that the “only thing they need” to carry out this process is that people are encouraged to fill their bottles and take them to one of the collection points they have throughout the country.
“We do not ask for donations or money, only to separate their waste and bring it to us”concludes