The team from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in New York State has been named the grand-prize winner in the 2014 Made by Milk carton construction contest. The students used 1,250 cartons to recreate a scene from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” complete with a life-size Alice, caterpillar, and Cheshire Cat.
Sustainability message
Katie Lewis, marketing manager for Evergreen packaging, told FoodProductionDaily the contest treats students to hands-on experience with recycling, and gives them a deeper understanding of sustainability.
“It’s rewarding to see students get so involved in collecting, recycling and repurposing milk cartons to create a prize-winning design that will help fund activities for their school,” she said. “I’m amazed at the imagination and dedication students of all ages put into their carton creations.”
This year’s Made by Milk contest received 98 entries from schools across the US, vying for a chance to win up to $5,000 in prize money. Teams submitted essays on how they would use the prize money, and judges awarded bonus points to schools planning on funnelling the money to eco-friendly means.
The winning entry uses juice cartons, cardboard boxes, water and soda bottles, grocery bags, and other repurposed packaging materials. The school, according to its essay, will use the money to fund art classes focusing on using recycled materials.
Lasting lessons
According to Yvette Bohlman, Benjamin N. Cardozo High’s sustainability coordinator, the members of the winning team learned lessons going beyond the creative project.
“The students put so much work and ingenuity into building their milk carton creation, and learned valuable eco-friendly practices, such as repurposing and recycling, that can be carried out in their everyday lives,” she said.
The Made by Milk contest is part of Evergreen Packaging’s overall push to increase awareness of the benefits of cartons as a planet-friendly packaging format. More than 57m US households have access to paper carton recycling services.