By Aaron Viland

If you drink a large quantity of soda, you may be able to be of assistance to some folks here at the high school. Batavia teachers, Daniel Renz and Chris Payton, and their students are attempting to collect 1,500 2-liter plastic bottles. No, Renz is not desperate for some extra beakers for his science classroom, but rather they are going to use them to build a Greenhouse.

“I went to a conference a couple years ago for AP Environmental Science and was talking to another teacher about long term environmental based projects that the students could do, and he mentioned that his students built a greenhouse out of 2L bottles and I was intrigued,” said Renz. “I knew that Mr. Payton and his class had begun planting some crops in the courtyard, so I approached him and wanted to see if he would be interested in partnering up so that they could grow crops year round, or at least longer.”

The project is quite inexpensive, as the bottles will all be donated, and only a minimal amount of lumber will be required. With 35 total students involved, from both Renz and Payton’s classes, construction should only take 1 to 2 days. It will give the students an opportunity to make constructive use of reclaimed materials, as opposed to simply throwing them out. All BHS students are encouraged to donate any 2-liter bottles (with the exception of Coke products, as their shape is inoperable) so that they can collect all 1,500 bottles that are required.