East Hartford Receives a Gift for Community Recycling Efforts

East Hartford, CT—The Town of East Hartford accepted a gift of a Trex bench from the East Hartford Garden Club on Monday. The bench, recently installed at the East Hartford Golf Club, was awarded to the East Hartford Garden’s club for reaching its goal of collecting 500 pounds of plastic film as part of the Trex Community Challenge program.

“This award is a wonderful recognition of extensive recycling efforts put forth by our dedicated community members,” said Mayor Marcia Leclerc.

Since 2006, Trex Company—the world’s largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking products, hosted the Recycling Challenge with the objective of educating the public on the importance of plastic film recycling through school and community recycling programs.

Once the goal of collecting a minimum of 500 pounds of plastic in a six-month period is met, a Trex bench is awarded for their community. 

Since March, the East Hartford Garden Club has been collecting, weighing, recording, reporting, and delivering the collected plastic to a participating retailer, Whole Foods in Glastonbury, for delivery to the Trex Company.  In the six-month collection period required by the Trex Challenge, the Garden Club members collected grocery bags, bread bags, case overwrap from water bottles, overwrap from packages of paper towels and toilet paper bundles, dry cleaning bags, newspaper sleeves, ice bags, wood pellet bags, Ziploc and other re-closable bags, bubble wrap, produce bags, and cereal bags. All plastic had to be clean, dry, and without any food residue. 

The primary objective of the East Hartford Garden Club’s civic project was to encourage recycling in the community and reduce the amount of plastic film, ending up in the town’s landfill. Although the garden club reached its recycling collection goal, residents are encouraged to continue to recycle plastic that is not allowed in curbside recycling bins, into designated bins at local grocery stores.

The Town of East Hartford offers an abundance of resources and educational materials to promote recycling. Please visit East Hartford Waste Services regarding recycling opportunities in the area.