Recyclables help Zwaanendael purchase bench
The Zwaanendael Museum sends out a heartfelt thanks to members of the community who dropped off used plastic bottles and bags in recycling bins at the museum between January and March 2021. The donated materials were used to help offset the cost of a new, recycled-plastic bench that was unveiled at the museum on April 23, 2021.
Manufactured by Eco Plastic Products of Delaware, a Wilmington-based nonprofit that collects discarded plastic and converts it into useful and sustainable products, the museum’s park bench is six-feet long and weigh 127 pounds. As part of its goal of “Saving the Oceans One Plastic Bag at a Time,” Eco Plastic offered a $31.75 ($0.25 per pound) discount off the bench’s price tag if the museum was able to collect the weight of the bench in recyclable plastic. The museum blew past that goal, collecting more than 200 pounds of plastics that are now being kept out of landfills and put to good use.
The museum welcomes members of the community to come and sit on the bench to see what their efforts have done to help protect the environment.
Located at 102 Kings Highway in Lewes, Del., the Zwaanendael Museum was built in 1931 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the state’s first European colony, Swanendael, established by the Dutch along Hoorn Kill (present-day Lewes-Rehoboth Canal) in 1631. Designed by E. William Martin (architect of Legislative Hall and the Hall of Records in Dover), the museum is modeled after the town hall in Hoorn, the Netherlands, and features a stepped facade gable with carved stonework and decorated shutters. The museum’s exhibits and presentations provide a showcase for Lewes-area maritime, military and social history.
