SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Springfield residents have shown amazing support for the plastic film recycling program that started in February of this year. The Springfield Rotary Club signed on to the Trex Community Recycling Challenge, to collect and recycle soft plastic used by Trex to manufacture building materials such as decking. Communities that collect 500 pounds of plastic film within a six-month period are awarded a bench.
Working with Friends of Springfield Town Library (FOSTL), the Springfield Rotary Club has now earned two Trex benches. Most importantly, the project has kept over 1,000 pounds of film plastic out of the waste stream. The second bench is located at The Common overlooking the ball field.
Springfield Rotary Club is now working with the Union Park Neighborhood Association to collect another 500 pounds of soft film plastic – which cannot be included in the curbside single stream recycling – out of landfills and waterways.
In addition, three local businesses are participating in the project. McGee CDRJ, Springfield GMC, and the Springfield Food Co-op are separating their plastic for recycling.
The public can continue to bring the plastic to the bin located at the town library. The plastic is then delivered to Shaw’s Supermarket, who in turn sends it to its distribution plant. From there it is shipped to the Trex processing plant.
The plastic bags that the Springfield community collects are returned in the form of a bench. This means that there’s a good chance a piece of plastic waste dropped into the bin at the library is actually a part of a bench someone is sitting on.
The Springfield Rotary Club is in its 95th year of service to the community. For more information about the Trex Plastic Challenge, visit springfieldvtrotary.org.