David Bluestein and Williams College

Bluestein’s innovative teaching idea, “Precious Plastics,” is designed to set-up a plastics recycling program and plastics art/production class at Buxton High School. The goal is to use plastics from the community and Williams College, reducing the amount of waste produced by both institutions. The sorting, cleaning, and shredding of plastics will be run as an addition to an existing community service program at the school. The plastics production class will be a hands-on education class about understanding the physical properties of plastics and then developing products for both art and use. As a combination of art, science, environmentalism, and community service, the program depends on acquiring and utilizing machines to shred plastics and then melt and reform them, and the Voya grant will be used to purchase such machines.