Clean Up the Beach & Have Fun Doing It with the Bottle-Legged Octopus
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 09.13.07
One of the ideas behind creating meaningful, impactful educational experiences is, "You gotta make it fun." Here's a brilliant concept designed to do just that when it comes to learning to clean up the beach. This cute little octopus (although, technically, it's just got six legs, so...sextopus?) is missing his legs; collecting discarded plastic bottles will both restore its limbs and make it buoyant enough to float. Trash = toy, just like that. It might be so much fun that us big kids would help collect new legs, too. Hit the jump to see what happens when the little guy has all six legs. via ::Yanko Design
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And after playing with this little toy, just unscrew the bottles and toss 'em back on the beach. That's only if mommy lets you touch the bottles, what with some half full of tobacco spit or worse, "trucker bombs."
What's the weight of that hunk of plastic compared to the weight of the six bottles (~230g)? That answers how many bottles you'd have to clean up before you offset the sextopus' own footprint.
Looks to me like it makes the trash problem worse!
Is Yanko pulling our leg?
Yup just more plastic and the bottles are not all the same like those in the pic. Better to pay the kid a nickle or dime for each bottle. What? Well the money at least stays in the family. When the bag is full, toss it into the closest container. Padre Island has them at entrances and along the beach area.
My wife and I pick up bags full during our stay in the RV parks near the beach. Most all of the other RV'ers do the same. Great place to work trash. The exercise is very good for flexibility. Use a long grabber and wear gloves just in case of what Anonymous described pops up. This sport is really interesting following a big hurricane. I can hardly wait.
http://daflikkers.blogspot.com/
ungreen
What if instead of a head it was made like Pop-it Beads use to be made, that way you could make a totem pole out of them. Better yet make this to hold 2 litter bottles, cut part of the sides out and have a stacking planter system out of them.