People rarely think about anything more than resting their legs when they sit down on a park bench.

However, this cannot be said of the youth council at the Edwardsburg Sports Complex, which had sustainability on the brain when they were looking to add benches to the complex.

The ESC sponsored a recycling project led by the organization’s youth council. The project, which ran throughout 2016, aimed to create benches using recycled caps. The two benches that resulted from the project were recently completed and produced by Green Tree Plastics.

The bench is made from the caps of all sorts of items, like detergent, pop and ketchup bottles.

The idea to create a bench out of recycled materials came from ESC Executive Director Jennifer Mackling who heard of a similar project from a northern Indiana 4H group. However, the choice to continue forward with and work on the project was that of the youth council.

“Sustainability has been a theme in the projects [the youth council] has done,” Mackling said. “It was their way of making their mark out here.”

The council is a group of students from Edwardsburg High School that works on different community service projects with the complex.

There are six regular members of the council, but there are many more teens who take part in occasional projects throughout the year, Mackling said.

The original goal of the project was to collect 500 pounds of recycled material, which would have been enough to make one bench. However, the group collected 800 pounds of recycled materials, which resulted in two benches.

“We had so much community involvement,” Mackling said. “At one point, we tried to stop collecting, but people kept bringing things in.”

Caitlin Trovatore, a member of the council and a ninth grader at Edwardsburg High School, is heavily involved in the youth council and participated in collecting and separating caps for the bench project.

“We were really, really excited that we got over what we need,” Trovatore said. “It was a far goal when we started, and we didn’t even think we were going to get to our goal in the first place. We didn’t think people would participate, but so quickly we got so many caps.”

The bench project was a way to both make creative benches and bring the community together, Trovatore said.

Trovatore hasn’t seen the complete benches yet, but is excited to use them and be involved in upcoming youth council projects.

“I’ve really built a friendship with some of the people there and I like to do the activities at the meetings that we host. I just like to help out,” Trovatore said. “The [bench project] was my favorite project. We got to sit around and talk and bond as we separated the caps.”

The total cost of the production of the benches was $450. This was a great deal, as the benches together are worth well over $1,000, Mackling said.

The money for the benches came from youth council fund, which the teens have raised at various fundraising events.

“The plastic benches will basically last forever,” Mackling said. “I hope that when [members of the youth council] leave and go to college that they can come back here and see the benches and see something that they were a part of.”