World Oceans Day is a day dedicated toward reminding individuals why our oceans are so important. We want to educate others on ways to help prevent pollution such as plastic waste. For this day, the South Carolina Aquarium is taking part in a project to create bird feeders out of recycled products. We are collecting many plastic bottle and bottle cap donations of all shapes and sizes, to work together with our guests to create bird feeders. On the day of June 8th, we will have a table set up front and center inside the aquarium for this activity. We will encourage guests to become hands on in creating and designing their bird feeders to take home with them. We will educate on the importance of recycling and small steps that can be taken to help our oceans become a safer environment for the ecosystems within. To prep for our big day we will clean the bottles received, remove any labels, and pre-cut spaces to place the bottle caps in the sides of the bottles. The younger children can get hands on with picking their bottle caps and bottles, whereas adults will receive a flyer to advocate further steps on helping the environment through recycling.

We came up with the this project through brainstorming ideas on what would be the most common and resourceful plan for families to participate in. We wanted them to be able to give back to nature while also using resources found commonly in their household. Some difficulties we needed to overcome was the efficiency of the bird feeders themselves and the full proof design concept. There was also a challenge with the product display so there would be no injuries to the birds via sharp edges from cutting holes into the bottles. We overcome this challenge by placing washi tape around the cutouts to thus soften those hard lines.