Bronze Award Spotlight: Recycle Your PLASTIC Before You TRASH It!
Girl Scout Junior Bella recently earned her Bronze Award by completing a service project she titled, “Recycle Your PLASTIC Before You TRASH It!”
Bella worked with the Peninsula SPCA in Newport News, VA to determine an area that needed improvement at their facility. Staff at the facility had adding another seating area to their visitor section on their wish list so families would have a place to sit and visit with animals that were available for adoption. Bella gathered information from Trex’s Recyling Challenge and set a goal to collect 500 pounds of plastic in order to earn a recycled bench for free from the company. She set up several collection points in the local community and advertised her project to friends, family, and neighbors.
Bella said, “I worked to educate people on single use plastic and showed them how they could recycle it to create something better.”
She did weekly pickups of the plastic, weighed each bag and kept a log of pounds with the help of her mother, Amber. She reported this information to Swee Hart, humane education manager/volunteer coordinator for the Peninsula SPCA. After 3 months, the Girl Scout had collected well over 500 pounds of plastic and they submitted this information to Trex.
Once the bench had been shipped to the SPCA, Bella volunteered at the facility and was able to help construct the bench in the visitor area. Bella also reported that several of the collection locations still recycle plastic and turned their efforts into a local group that is saving plastic to get benches for public parks in Poquoson.
