With Earth Day and the heavy travel season fast approaching, I wanted to take a look at how recycled plastics relate to both.
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.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen amazing growth in the recycling of plastics. The recycling of bags and wraps has increased 50% over the past 5 years,plastic bottle recycling reached nearly 29% in 2010, and non-bottle rigid plastics recycling soared 72% in just one year. This week we heard some exciting news about a new partnership that can only keep the momentum building and help divert even more plastics from the waste stream. Preserve®, a consumer goods company based in Waltham, Mass., has partnered with Recyclebank, New York, to reward consumers for recycling, polypropylene, a type of plastic frequently used to make bottle caps and yogurt cups. Plastics make from polypropylene are typically labeled PP or #5.
I know the Recycle. Goal. contest recently ended, but I can’t stop looking ahead.
I work with two teams–girls under 8 and girls under 10–that together collected and recycled more than 400 pounds of materials, including nearly 240 pounds of plastics, which we redeemed for cash. That and the gift card we earned will provide much-needed equipment for our teams to use at practices and games. Read more »
At ACC we’re always looking for creative ways to increase awareness and participation in plastics recycling. This month, we’re very excited about “Bin it!,” a new game and app for the iPhone and iPad that can be downloaded free from iTunes.
