When many municipalities throughout our region began changing their recycling programs to conform to stricter purity requirements and a changing market place for recyclable materials, four Port Jefferson teens refused to bottle up their environmentalism. Instead, Earl L. Vandermeulen High School students Sapphire Perera, Royce Perera, Ava Cooper and Liam Cooper began collecting glass waste bottles from neighbors and Port Jefferson area restaurants they turned into useful and decorative additions to homes throughout our community.
Dubbed Bottles for Change the sister and brother duos sanitize, paint and repurpose the collected glass bottles as olive oil dispensers and light ornaments, then sell them at Port Jefferson’s Farmers Market. All profits from the sales go to Citizen Campaign for the Environment, an organization that works for the restoration and protection of the environment.
Photo: Legislator Hahn (center) recognizes Port Jefferson teens Sapphire Perera (left) and Royce Perera (right) for putting their environmental message on a bottle through their “Bottles for Change” initiative.