{"organism":"Page","children":[{"organism":"Container.Raw","children":[{"organism":"Metadata","model":{"title":"Turning plastics into playtime","links":[{"name":"Turning plastics into playtime","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime.html"}]},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/metadata"},{"organism":"ContentOwner","model":{},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/contentowner"},{"organism":"Container.Header","children":[{"organism":"Container.Raw","ref":"https://www.shell.us/business/_jcr_content/root/header/inherited.model.json","id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/header/inherited","model":{}},{"organism":"Breadcrumb","model":{"links":[{"name":"Home","value":"https://www.shell.us/"},{"name":"Business","value":"https://www.shell.us/business.html"},{"name":"Sectors","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors.html"},{"name":"Shell Polymers","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers.html"},{"name":"Resources & insights","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights.html"},{"name":"Turning plastics into playtime","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime.html"}]},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/header/breadcrumb"}],"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/header","model":{}},{"organism":"Container.Main","children":[{"organism":"Container.Section","children":[{"organism":"PageHeader","color":"inherited","model":{"title":"Turning plastics into playtime","text":"\u003Cp\u003ESort and separate, and don’t contaminate: That was the lesson. And students at Big Beaver Elementary School aced the recycling test. The reward for their efforts? A new basketball court — one made with reclaimed plastic.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n","image":{"src":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/_jcr_content/root/main/section/page_header.shellimg.png/1786381745569/boy-playing-basketball.png","alt":"Kid bounces basketball","width":2332,"height":1050}},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/page_header"},{"organism":"PromoSimple.Text","color":"inherited","colspan":8,"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/text","model":{"text":"\u003Cp\u003EBig Beaver Elementary School students got a big surprise to start the 2023-2024 school year. Greeting them on day one of classes was a brand-new basketball court — a first for this K-5 school located in Darlington, Pennsylvania. Even better? The new play area was a prize for their hard work learning the right way to recycle plastic.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E(Real)ationships mean building community together\u003C/h2\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt all started with a $225,000 grant from Shell Polymers and a partnership with the Beaver County Department of Sustainability and Waste Management. The goal: initiate plastic recycling programs at six elementary schools located near Shell’s state-of-the-art petrochemicals complex in Monaca, Pennsylvania.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe funds paid for recycling education, recycling bins, a full-time trash separator/monitor at the local recycling plant and expanded hours at the Beaver County recycling center.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E“We produce plastic at our plant, and our goal is to implement ways to reuse it or give it a second life,” says Curtis Thomas, media relations manager for Shell Polymers. “Kids can’t concentrate on global plastic waste, but they can concentrate on how to recycle plastic properly at school and at home.”\u003C/p\u003E\r\n"}},{"organism":"PromoSimple.Text","color":"brand5-subtle","colspan":4,"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/text_2086079724","model":{"title":"Plastics to Play program by the numbers","text":"\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E$225,000 grant from Shell Polymers Monaca\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E6 Beaver County elementary schools participated\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E400+ students learned the right way to recycle plastics\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E100+ bags of plastics gathered by the elementary students\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003C/ul\u003E\r\n"}},{"organism":"PromoFull","color":"inherited","model":{"title":"Lunch time is lesson time","text":"\u003Cp\u003EAs part of the program, students studied recycling in the classroom, then put those lessons into action in the cafeteria. They sorted and separated their lunch waste and deposited plastics in the designated containers.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMost important, they rinsed and cleaned food waste off plastic products — learning how to eliminate the contamination that often results in plastics going to the landfill versus the recycling center.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E“When kids deposited plastics the correct way, there was someone there to give them a high-five. When you’re a grade-schooler, a high-five for doing something right is the whole world,” Curtis says. “They worked hard to get those high-fives.”\u003C/p\u003E\r\n","image":{"src":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/_jcr_content/root/main/section/promo.shellimg.png/1786381981055/boy-recycling-plastic.png","alt":"Lunchtime is the lesson","width":712,"height":402}},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/promo"},{"organism":"PromoFull.Right","color":"inherited","model":{"title":"Recycling gets real","text":"\u003Cp\u003EAt Big Beaver Elementary, students rose to the recycling challenge — gathering more than 100 bags of plastics over the course of the program. Principal Chad Thomas and his teachers were thrilled to work plastics recycling into their curriculum.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E“We’re always working on trying to better ourselves and improve the education our students are getting every year,” Chad says. “The best part was just seeing them say, ‘Oh, I can recycle this! But I can’t recycle that, and this is why.’”\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMaking the program hands-on, rather than merely a classroom lesson, made a big difference.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E“There’s no better way to drive home a message than to make it tangible,” Curtis says. “If you can educate the kids, the kids will educate the parents — and by the time they’re parents themselves, it’s just a way of life.”\u003C/p\u003E\r\n","image":{"src":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/_jcr_content/root/main/section/promo_1613138994.shellimg.png/1786382100482/recycling-can-in-a-classroom.png","alt":"Recycling gets real","width":902,"height":660}},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/promo_1613138994"},{"organism":"PromoSimple.Text","color":"inherited","id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/text_1415388131","model":{"title":"Plastics make it possible","text":"\u003Cp\u003ENow, every time Big Beaver Elementary students step onto their new basketball court, they’ll get a reminder about recycling. That’s because the surface is made with reclaimed plastic — the same material and process used to \u003Ca href=\"https://us.polymers.shell.com/real-stories/plastic-roads-article\"\u003Epave more than six miles of roads and 47,000 square yards of parking lots \u003C/a\u003Eat Shell Polymers’ Monaca facility.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E“The kids know that recycling can benefit the environment, and it can benefit them directly,” Curtis says. “We wanted to show them that recycling is not only beneficial to the planet, but it’s also fun and easy to do.”\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith real results of recycling right under their feet, that’s a lesson Big Beaver Elementary students won’t soon forget.\u003C/p\u003E\r\n"}},{"organism":"Quote.Small","color":"brand3-solid","colspan":6,"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/quote","model":{"title":"Chad Thomas,  Principal, Big Beaver Elementary School","text":"\u003Cp\u003E\"This basketball court is going to give the students a dedicated place to play that will be safe, and I feel like we really needed that out here.”\u003C/p\u003E\r\n"}},{"organism":"StandaloneAsset","color":"inherited","colspan":6,"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section/standalone_asset","model":{"video":{"src":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0VbYtwsC1s"}}}],"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main/section","model":{}}],"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/main","model":{}},{"organism":"Container.Footer","children":[{"organism":"Breadcrumb.Large","model":{"links":[{"name":"Home","value":"https://www.shell.us/"},{"name":"Business","value":"https://www.shell.us/business.html"},{"name":"Sectors","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors.html"},{"name":"Shell Polymers","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers.html"},{"name":"Resources & insights","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights.html"},{"name":"Turning plastics into playtime","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime.html"}]},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/footer/breadcrumb"},{"organism":"Container.Raw","ref":"https://www.shell.us/business/_jcr_content/root/footer/inherited_copy.model.json","id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/footer/inherited","model":{}}],"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content/root/footer","model":{}}],"id":"/conf/shell/settings/wcm/templates/base/structure/jcr_content/root","model":{}}],"model":{"title":"Turning plastics into playtime","links":[{"name":"canonical","value":"https://www.shell.us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime.html"},{"name":"hierarchy","value":"en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime"},{"name":"homeTitle","value":"Business"},{"name":"homeUrl","value":"https://www.shell.us/business.html"},{"name":"locale","value":"en-US"},{"name":"title","value":"Turning plastics into playtime | Business"},{"name":"textDirection","value":"ltr"},{"name":"template","value":"base"},{"name":"contentPath","value":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime"},{"name":"externalDisclaimerText","value":"Shell plc Legal Disclaimer\r\n\r\nYou are now leaving the Shell US website.\r\nThe link you have selected will direct you to a website that is not controlled by Shell plc or any member of the Shell Group. Accordingly, neither Shell plc nor any member of the Shell Group endorses, adopts, certifies or otherwise validates the information and material contained on the linked website. This includes its sponsor and any policies, activities or services offered on the site, by any advertiser on the site or linked to the site.\r\n\r\nThank you for visiting the Shell US website."},{"name":"themeMode"},{"name":"lastModified","value":"2026-08-10T17:17:52.028Z"},{"name":"themeName","value":"base"},{"name":"themePath","value":"/etc.clientlibs/amidala/clientlibs/theme-base"},{"name":"themeCss","value":"/etc.clientlibs/amidala/clientlibs/theme-base.ACSHASHb291465fc8d3c7bcefde74d34044b698.css"}]},"id":"/content/shell/countries/united-states/en_us/business/sectors/shell-polymers/resources-and-insights/turning-plastics-into-playtime/jcr_content"}