By Kath Gannaway
While many children are whiling away their school holidays in front of iPods or television screens, Warburton teen Hadassah, 14, has been following her passion for the environment.
This has included finding a neat use for discarded plastic bottles – making a clever raft which she can actually use.
The resourceful teenager said she first got the idea from a book, before researching how she could actually turn the idea into reality.
“I was reading one of my brother’s books and in the book there were mice that build a raft,” she said.
“I just thought, that’s a good idea, I’ll build a raft because it’s summer.
“I was talking to my dad and he said when he was a kid, he built a raft out of plastic bottles and a pallet.”
Hadassah started collecting bottles back in mid-November, before starting the build about one month later.
She used all kinds of plastic bottles, from juice to milk bottles.
Hadaassah said she could not be more pleased with the finished product.
“When I put it in the water, it floated really well,” she said.
“The platform was above the surface of the water, so my feet stayed dry.”
The young environmentalist said she wasn’t planning any river journeys straight away, but may take to the water a bit later.
