For every 100 bottle caps collected, a child would receive a free hour of chemotherapy. At least, that was the idea.
Last semester's bottle cap collection, loosely sponsored by several campus organizations and residents halls, was a scam, according to the American Cancer Society website. But the Ball State community decided to collect caps after they discovered the scam and use them their own way.
"Everyone was really deflated from [finding out about] that," said Nicole MacLean, a freshman Student Government Association senator and DeHority hall council member. "I was mad, and I wanted to do something to combat it."
MacLean proposed a new initiative: collect bottle caps again, but do it this time for a different purpose. If all goes well, the caps will still raise money for chemotherapy treatments or cancer research, but first, they'll be turned into a full-size functional chair.
MacLean partnered with Ana de Brea, an associate professor of architecture, who has a hobby of making functional art out of recycled materials. Two years ago, de Brea had a chair she crocheted out of recycled plastic exhibited in Terre Haute's Swope Art Museum.
"I'm an architect, but I've always been interested in art," de Brea said. "I like to explore an idea and make it possible ... I like to produce something that is more than just what you contemplate."
Their plan is to build a chair solely out of collected bottle caps and glue, then sell the chair or have it exhibited in a museum. Not only will the collected bottle caps not be going to waste, but any proceeds from the chair will go to a cancer-related charity. MacLean called her plan "crazy" but said she is already impressed by the amount of organizations participating.
"We can barely get students to care about things ... but when everyone found out about this, they were so willing to help and it was so cool to see," MacLean said. "I actually never thought it would get this far; I thought it was just going to be a thing DeHority did and it's really turned into something awesome."
Select student life organizations and residence halls will collect caps through March 2. After Spring Break, students who want to help with the project will meet at 8:45 p.m. on Tuesdays and some Saturdays to help sort the caps and start work on the chair, under de Brea's direction. MacLean said they are hoping to have it finished and be looking for a buyer by mid-April.
Students are encouraged to donate water, soda, Gatorade and even Snapple bottle caps to the project. Any remaining caps will be sent to a recycling plant, as were most of last semester's caps when it was discovered they were being collected unnecessarily, MacLean said.
If you have questions or want to get involved, contact Nicole MacLean at nmmaclean@bsu.edu.
An explanation from the American Cancer Society about the myth of donating bottle caps to pay for chemotherapy can be read here:
cancer.org/AboutUs/HowWeHelpYou/bottlecapsforchemo
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