SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Grade 4 students at NJ Macpherson School combined recycling and art by creating a mural made from more than 15,000 bottle caps.

Grade 4 students Hanna farrell, left, and Ashley Rocher show off a mural Dec. 1 they helped make from bottle caps, at NJ Macpherson School. - Adrian Lysenko/NNSL photo

Since the beginning of the school year students have been collecting plastic pop bottle caps to complete a large mural that will be placed in the front hall of their school.

"I was thinking it would be nice to do something where we used one of the three Rs," said Kim Lee, Grade 4 teacher at the school, referring to the environmentalism tents of reduce, re-use, recycle.

She then came up with the idea of reusing bottle tops from plastic bottles.

"A lot of places don't recycle bottle caps because the plastic is different than the bottle," she said.

Lee found examples of bottle cap art on the Internet and decided on making a picture of the Northern Lights.

"We tried to think of something that was Northern, colourful and didn't need a lot of detail," she said.

Students brought in bottle caps from home after parents were made aware of the art project.

"It's a good opportunity for students to learn how you could use materials in a creative way," said Sharon Oldford, principal at the school.

Grade 4 student Emily Gosselin said she liked the idea of reusing the bottle caps rather than throwing them away.

"Instead of garbage they became art," she said.

Lee said at the beginning some students approached the project with skepticism.

"They weren't sure at first," said Lee. "I don't think they could picture it in their minds but as they saw it drawn out and painted and we placed on some bottle caps they got excited."

Each student seemed to enjoy different aspects of the project, according to their teacher.

"Some kids like the gluing, some kids really liked the sorting, some liked going to the other classes to collect bottle caps," said Lee.

Grade 4 student Ashley Rocher agreed.

"Some people like to work together and some people like to work the hot glue gun," she said.

The school was scheduled to have an art gala yesterday to unveil the mural, with refreshments of sparkling apple juice as a chance for students and teachers to mingle and discuss the piece.

"It was nice for them to see (the) project through completion and see how much work it would take," said Lee. "To see the amount of garbage that just bottle caps take up was quite an eye-opener for them."

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