SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – As a reward for Springfield residents collecting more than 500 pounds of thin film plastics within an ten-week period during the Trex Thin Film Plastics Challenge, the Trex Company will be providing the Springfield Rotary Club with an outdoor bench that will be placed at The Common.
The Rotary Club entered the Trex Thin Film Plastics Challenge on Jan. 1, on behalf of the Springfield community, placing a Trex bin in the Springfield Town Library. In addition, thin film plastic was collected at McGee CDJR of Springfield, and Springfield GMC. Since that time, Springfield residents have been avidly pitching in to recycle their share of thin film plastics, amassing 561 pounds of thin film plastics in under two months.
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 re-sealable bags, and similar bags and wrap for other objects. If the sponsoring group’s participants collect 500 or more pounds of thin film plastics within a six-month period, Trex will send the group a Trex Outdoor Furniture 48-inch Yacht Club Bench.
Notably, the Springfield community took less than one-third of the allotted time to reach the 500 pounds milestone. Volunteers from the Springfield Rotary Club, and from the Springfield Town Library, collected and weighed the bags, reported the bags’ weight to Trex, and delivered 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. While the Springfield Rotary Club was restricted from beginning a new challenge period until its current six-month collection window ends, the club partnered with Friends of Springfield Town Library to launch another challenge and earn additional outdoor benches for our community. Plastic from the Springfield Food Co-op is also being collected.
The bench installed at The Common is dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Springfield Rotary Club, and to longstanding member Eugene Guy, who passed away on May 17, 2022. For 50 years, into his mid-80s, Gene never missed a rotary meeting, and enjoyed taking part in the annual Rotary Club Penny Sale.