Have extra plastic bags? Give them to a good cause
KENT, Ohio (WJW) – Most of us probably have a cupboard full of plastic bags from the grocery store, not serving much of a purpose.
To give these bags new purpose, the Special Olympics in Kent is gathering plastics in a community drive led by its athletes to create benches for Theodore Roosevelt High School.
“We’ve done four benches already, and we’re working on our fifth one,” said Kent Special Olympics coach Linda Ferlito.
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This drive started off small two-and-a-half years ago. Now, the whole community is chipping in.
Once 1,000 pounds of plastic bags are collected, the material is sent to Trex, a building company that uses recycled materials for decks, railing and other items.
Once created by Trex, the benches are dedicated to members of the Kent community with close ties to the high school and Special Olympics community. But the plastic must be similar to a standard grocery bag.
“It has to be soft plastic,” Ferlito said. “It cannot be hard plastic. So like the containers you get vegetables — those kind of don’t work. Birdseed bags and mulch bags, just anything that’s soft plastic.”
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Ferlito said it takes 1,000 pounds of plastic to create one bench from recycled bags. Donations are being accepted at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent during regular school hours. Ferlito said they are close to hitting their goal, but the more the merrier.
“I think it’s a good project for my athletes to show that they can do something and make a difference in their community,” Ferlito said. “And then the second part is that we all want to get our environment to be better. And we know how the plastic is killing fish and other animals in the ocean. So, we would like to get rid of too much plastic as we can.”
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