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Trex and corporate sponsor Charter Next Generation (CNG) announced the nation’s top K-12 schools in the 15th annual Trex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge, that concludes on Earth Day (April 22).
Each fall, the nationwide challenge kicks off on America Recycles Day (Nov. 15) and concludes the next spring on Earth Day.
This year, students worked together to collect and recycle the most polyethylene plastic film for the chance to win Trex products and, for the first time, cash prizes from CNG, to beautify their campuses.
“For the past 15 years, the Trex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge has provided thousands of students a hands-on opportunity to make a difference in their communities and schools by learning the value of recycling,” said Stephanie Hicks, materials sourcing manager for Trex Co. “Paired with CNG’s generous corporate sponsorship, we continue to broaden adoption of our easy-to-implement annual recycling program among schools and in turn, increase the overall amount of plastic film material upcycled into Trex’s world-famous composite decking.”
Trex awards prizes to the top recyclers based on grade level, school size and region. Fifty-seven regional winners were recognized this. Coming out on top was Moscow Charter School, located in Moscow, ID., where students collected 7,735 lbs. of recycled plastic film through classroom challenges and community-wide outreach.
New to this year’s program, CNG’s sponsorship funds further incentivized the overall first and second place elementary, middle and high schools that recycled the most polyethylene plastic film during the collection period. CNG presented $5,000 each to the top recyclers at Moscow Charter School, E.L. Wright Middle School in Columbia, S.C., and North Cross High School in Roanoke, VA. Prizes of $2,500 went to the second-place winners at each level, including Woodland Elementary School in Monroe Township, N.J., Einstein Middle School in Appleton, WI., and York Community High School in Elmhurst, IL.
Additionally, a special award of $2,500 went to the students at Maple Grove Elementary School in Greenfield, WI., in recognition of their creativity and impressive activity on social media. Through teamwork, grassroots community outreach and outstanding use of social media, this school educated and engaged its community to get involved in the recycling program and generated a steady stream of images, videos and posts using the #TrexRecyclingChallenge and #Recycle2Win hashtags.
As one of the leading providers of specialty polyethylene films to the North American market, CNG has a high focus on diverting plastic film from landfills by developing materials that are readily recyclable and actively promoting the importance of recycling. The company is a long-time participant in the NexTrex™ Recycling Program and worked closely with Trex on its GreenArrow™ platform of sustainable films for flexible packaging to ensure their suitability for the Trex recycling stream.
The 16th Annual Trex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge will kick off on November 15. Interested schools can sign up by completing a brief form on Recycle.Trex.com.
