PopUpCycler Turns Plastic Trash into Art During Botanical Gardens Visit

LINCOLN COUNTY NEWS • July 24, 2025

Youth of all ages turned trash into art at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay on July 18-20. Rockland sculptor Kim Bernard led an educational art program with the PopUpCycler, a traveling plastic recycling machine, in the Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden. The PopUpCycler melts shredded No. 2 plastic into sticky modeling clay that can be shaped into anything an artist can dream up, including written words, abstract shapes, and functional items like flatware and chairs.