Food Moxie’s upcycled keyhole garden project at Martin Luther King High, constructed from 1,000 plastic-waste filled bottle bricks — a global first — will feature an additional eco-cool dimension: a mosaic mural on its exterior, created with bottle caps.

The circular keyhole garden’s walls will be 3 feet high and 6.5 feet across. To cover the circular outer wall, we will need approximately 5,000 bottle caps. 

Please help us! 

Start by saving caps; by next month we will have a collection system in place.

Caps should be solid-colored, with no imprinted or embossed writing or logos. Any size is fine. The more variety in sizes, the better.

Caps should be threaded. From my weekly recycling scavenger hunts, I can report the most common source of solid-color threaded tops is jugs of milk, ice tea and juices. Please note that Merrymead milk bottle caps are flat, not what we are collecting. White bottle caps, common on seltzer bottles, are also good, and will be good contrast for all the colors we collect.

Rarer, but very desirable, are metallic tops. Remember, no writing. Liquor bottles sometimes have these. 

Ensure nutrient supplement bottle caps, blue with a metallic insert, are perfect. Accents of reflective material like mirrors are great in murals. Many of you have admired Isaiah Zagar’s mirrored mural style.

If you are interested in helping with this community art project, please email Betsy Teutsch at bpteutsch@comcast.net. And start saving those caps!