By Sharad Mehta, Contributing Writer
Westborough – The Westborough Rotary Club’s Committee of the Environment (COTE) has organized a drive for collecting and recycling bags and film plastics from household waste. Although bags film plastics are ubiquitously in use, the economics of recycling them has been generally unattractive for businesses. These plastics eventually make their way in our fresh-water lakes and oceans destroying habitats and damaging the environment. The objective of this drive is to increase awareness of this serious issue and invite community members in the region to become actively involved in addressing it locally.
The Trex Plastics Challenge requires a community to collect about 500 pounds of bag and film plastics for recycling over a period of six months. If successful, Trex rewards the community with a park bench. Community members are being asked to collect waste bags and film plastics in their homes and periodically bring them to one of the collection centers. It is recommended that the collected plastics be saved in clean, regular 13.2-gallon trash bags. Once each bag weighs about 3-4 lbs., bring them to one of the following collection centers: Kohl’s Retail Store (rear entrance) every other Saturday, 9-10 a.m. (most preferred location); Central One Federal Credit Union, 40 South Street, Westborough; or the Borough Y, 4 Valente Drive, Northborough.
The drive is supported by Kohl’s corporate office. The collected plastics are transported by Kohl’s to a remote recycling center and pressed into 1000-pound bales which are then shipped to a Trex manufacturing plant in Virginia.
More information is available at www.facebook.com/westboroughrotary or email
[email protected].
Photos/Rotary Club of Westborough
