One teacher makes wasted bottles a thing of the past

The stegosaurus made of laundry detergent bottles at Decker Elementary School celebrates the school's mascot -- a dinosaur. Photos by Sara Tramiel/VIEW. Greg Manzi, a fifth-grade teacher at Decker Elementary School, crouches by a stegosaurus he made out of recycled laundry detergent bottles with his students' help in honor of Earth Day. Advertisement

Driving past Decker Elementary School, onlookers may notice something a little strange. Upon closer inspection, they might notice a lot of hard work and one teacher's drive to inspire his students.

The Decker dinosaurs, or students at Decker Elementary, 3850 Redwood St., have collected recyclable laundry detergent bottles since early this year with the hope of creating their mascot in the school's yard. By the look of the colorful giant that now resides next to Decker's gray building, they have succeeded.

"I think it's really cool, actually," said Sarah Vallejos, office specialist II for Decker Elementary. "They involved all the students. The kids loved it. Everybody liked it."

Called the "dino bottle build" by those in the know, the structure is comprised of about 400 bottles, according to fifth-grade teacher Greg Manzi. Manzi, the mastermind behind the undertaking, got the idea of creating the structure when viewing a similar creation at a school in New York where a caterpillar resided.

"It's up on a permanent basis," he said. "We're actually going to build each year on Earth Day."

Building will continue each year, and the school hopes to have four dinosaurs eventually, all made out of the colorful, yet recyclable, laundry detergent bottles.

"It helps with the Earth," Vallejos said. "It's a good way to recycle bottles."

Manzi said the school will accept "anything with color and a handle" for the project. Other area schools also helped the Decker dinosaurs attain their goal. The bottles are held together with zip ties that are attached around chicken wire. "It's an ongoing collection that the entire school participates in," Manzi said.