Trex Challenge

When you throw away your plastic bags, they either

A: end up in a landfill

Or

B: get dumped in the ocean

If it’s A, it can take up to 500 years to decompose and potentially leak pollutants into the soil. Option B is probably even worse, as it can spend ages floating around harming marine life. To lessen these consequences at least one time, Bernards Township decided to try the Trex Challenge last year. The township was to collect and recycle 500 lbs or more of thin plastic in a six month time frame and in return Trex would reward the township with a Trex Park Bench made of such recycled plastic. Mom’s idea was to take my friends and I around the neighborhood to try and collect as much plastic as we could. I reached out to a few friends, while Mom sent a message blast on a neighborhood group chat, so people knew to leave their thin film plastic outside. My friends' families were open to the idea and we were ready to collect plastic. The experience was very enjoyable, I called it “thin plastic trick-or treat”. It was very openly supported by the community and was a huge success. Even in bitter cold it was an exhilarating experience as we were driving around in a car full of stuffed plastic bags. Once we finished the trip and weighed all the garbage bags full of thin plastic, we were amazed to have collected 47 lbs of plastic! That was nearly 10% of the goal! We were intending to do another round of collection, but before we could, Bernards Township reached the goal of 500 lbs of plastic. Within three months the township met the goal only to realize how fast we consume plastic. It's in our mind to reach out to the township and perhaps make this challenge a recurring one.

In the following days we were also published in the news: https://www.newjerseyhills.com/bernardsville_news/news/basking-ridge-students-boost-townships-plastic-recycling-project/article_c80ccac5-07ff-5e17-bd3a-8d8028126106.html

I am constantly searching for opportunities like this, where it's simple enough to partner with friends, assist and make an impact. Have an idea, send it along!