SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — As a reward for Springfield residents collecting 1,000 pounds of thin film plastics for the Trex Thin Film Plastics Challenge, the Trex Company (Trex) provided the Springfield Rotary Club with its 10th outdoor bench that was placed at the Elm Hill School in Springfield.
For this bench, 36% of the plastic film was collected at the Springfield Town Library, 30% from Magee Office Products, and the rest from Bibens Ace Hardware, Springfield GMC, McGee CDJR of Springfield, Springfield Hospital, and the Elm Hill School. Since February of 2023, the Springfield Rotary Club has collected over four tons of thin plastic film.
The Challenge is part of the Trex Recycling Program, aimed at encouraging the public to recycle their grocery bags, bread bags, produce bags, cereal bags, ice bags, case overwrap, bubble wrap, dry cleaning bags, Ziploc and other resealable bags, and similar bags and wrap for other objects. If the sponsoring group’s participants collect 1,000 pounds of thin film plastics, Trex will send the group a Trex Outdoor Furniture 48″ Yacht Club Bench. Trex does not manufacture the benches, they are a purchased gift for meeting the minimum requirement in the program. The plastic that is turned in is being upcycled into Trex decking. The benches are part of the Trex branded furniture line through Polywood. Polywood uses milk jugs and water bottles to manufacture their furniture.
Plastics do not fully decompose but break down into smaller and smaller pieces, so these microplastics pose a huge risk to wildlife and are extremely difficult to clean up. Recycling plastic bags and film reduces harmful plastic pollution from littering our community, wildlife habitats and green spaces. The Trex Challenge is a creative way to eliminate grocery bags and other plastic film from our waste stream, which need to be separated from the curbside recycling program as they can damage the mechanical equipment used during the recycling process.
This is the 10th bench that has been donated. The first two can be found at The Common, the third at the Park Street School overlooking the Kingsbury House, the fourth at the North Springfield Bog Trailhead, the fifth and sixth at the bus stop on Main Street, and the seventh and eighth at the Springfield Town Library, and the ninth at “Green on Main” at 77 Main Street in Springfield.
Volunteers from the Springfield Rotary Club and from the Springfield Town Library collect and weigh the bags, report the bags’ weight to Trex, and deliver the bags to Trex’s closest participating drop-off retailer location, Shaw’s Supermarket in Springfield. The Trex Bin will remain in place at the Springfield Town Library.
The Springfield Rotary Club has already begun to collect plastic film toward another bench for the Springfield community. The benches are dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Springfield Rotary.
The Rotary Club of Springfield, founded in 1927, is an active community service club of more than 40 members who engage in community and human service projects both locally and internationally. For more information, visit springfieldvtrotary.org.