Baker began this project at the end of the last school year with his environmental science class. He’s continuing this year with a community science class included in an alternative education program called STREAM (which stands for Science, Technology, Real world applications, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics). His motivation is environmental in part — the 1,000 pounds of plastic required to make the bench means an enormous volume of plastic won’t go to the landfill.

“It’s a way to get out in the community and do good,” Baker said.

However, the program is also about building social skills. The students were responsible for writing letters and calling businesses, such as Aubuchon’s Hardware, Kinney Drugs, Walgreens and Price Chopper, to partner with them. Then the students, driven in a small bus by Baker, make the rounds to the businesses each week to collect the plastic that has been set aside.

Baker said his students were nervous about calling the businesses, but that afterwards, their increased confidence was palpable.

Lake Placid High School students Hannah Dann and Kevin Bonet ride the bus after collecting a bag of plastic from Walgreens on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

“We practiced, we rehearsed what they would say to these people when they called — and they had a lot of anxiety about it,” Baker said. “But they faced their fears and they called them. When they finished, they were so juiced up — it was awesome.”

Now, he said talking with employees is “like a cake walk” for the students.

The class is working with a company called NexTrex. As of their most recent shipment, they had collected about 200 pounds of plastic, although much of that was collected last year since he only recently resumed the project with a new group of students. The goal is to reach 1,000 pounds by May. Baker estimates that the mountain of plastic in the back of his classroom, which stands as tall as a person, represents another 100 pounds.

This week, Blaze Staves, Hannah Dann and Kevin Bonet volunteered to take the bus to a handful of stores. Some weeks, there isn’t any to collect, but they check anyways. At Kinney Drugs and Walgreens, they scored bags filled with various plastics, which were then tossed into the back of the bus and taken back to school.

When asked what they have learned from this experience so far, their responses were a mixed bag.

“A lot of people don’t care enough to organize their trash,” Dann said, simply.

After the students return from their plastic collection run, they have to sort through it. All of the plastic has to be stretchy. Baker said things like crinkly chip bags are made of layered plastic and can’t be recycled. They also have to remove any stickers from the bags and make sure they are completely clean.

This project feeds into other lessons the students are learning. On Tuesday, Baker was teaching them about upcycling.

He showed the students a canoe paddle made from scrap wood he found in dumpsters. Then he pulled out an apron that he made out of a bright orange bag of birdseed and announced that the class will learn how to sew their own. Their classroom is equipped with stoves and sinks, with aprons hanging at the door and four sewing machines sitting on desks by the window.

Before leaving for their weekly mission to gather plastic from partner businesses, the students were doing an activity with scraps of trash where they created a story about a household based on what they threw away.

“You can learn a lot about someone just looking at trash, right?” Baker asked the students. “If you were to look at the trash of an average American, what do you think that would tell you about our culture?”

“We love excess,” he continued. “We love making trash.”

As important as upcycling and recycling are, Baker said it’s ultimately a mitigation strategy. The end goal is to create different systems and habits of consumption.

“I would not say this is an end-all, be-all, fix-all situation,” he said. “This is just us doing something positive until a better solution can come across.”

Anyone interested in participating in this project can contact Baker at sbaker@lakeplacidcsd.net. For plasic contributions, a rule of thumb is that the plastic should stretch and rip, not tear. Types of plastics could include produce bags, store bags, ice bags, Ziploc and other reclosable bags, cereal box liners, bread bags, newspaper sleeves and bubble wrap. All plastics must be clean, dry and free from any food or other residue.