Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the first award ceremony for the Chapter Challenge, a recycling challenge that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes, in partnership with the plastic industries of the American Chemistry Council, launched this past September.

Each club is challenged to bring in and recycle items during the school year.  Each quarter the club that recycles the most gets prize money that will benefit the club’s programs. At the end of the challenge a grand prize will be awarded to the club that recycles the most overall.

The local clubs did a phenomenal job, bringing in a total of 310 pounds of recyclable materials, including 105 pounds of plastics.  This quarter’s winner, the Sequoia Boys & Girls Club, alone brought in over 100 pounds of recyclable material.

The enthusiasm shown by the kids at Sequoia demonstrates how necessary programs like the Chapter Challenge are to instill the importance of recycling in today’s youth.  It’s programs like these that educate kids about the importance of recycling and motivates them to protect the environment by doing something that anyone can do – recycle.

I want to thank the American Chemistry Council and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo & Las Virgenes for allowing us to be a part of this great program.

The following is a guest post by Sean Paroski, Field Representative for Senator Tony Strickland.