Congratulations to Gilbertsville-Mount Upton’s Recyclin’ Raiders, who swept both regional crowns in the 2022 Otsego County Conservation Association’s Plastic Film Recycling Challenge!
GMU second-graders recycled 226 pounds of plastic film to win the ES championship, and Raiders’ sophomores brought in 187 pounds for the MS/HS victory. GMU classrooms competed head-to-head for a special in-school prize, but those totals also went up against Morris, Richfield Springs and Worcester classrooms. Overall, GMU recycled 1,519 pounds of plastic film from December to April – an average of 4.7 pounds per student!
OCCA Program Director Jeff O’Handley and Otsego County Solid Waste Department Recycling Coordinator Shane Digan presented certificates and reusable shopping bags to our winning classrooms during last Friday’s Rockin’ Raiders program in the auditorium.
Technically, this marks the third straight year our Recyclin’ Raiders and team leader/advisor Ashley Hughes have won a title during this challenge. After sweeping ES and MS/HS championships in 2019, the Recyclin’ Raiders won the ES division in 2020. COVID-19 then canceled the 2021 challenge.
Remember, it’s never too early to start collecting clean, dry plastic film items at home for next year’s contest! Examples of plastic film are bread bags, bubble wrap, cereal bags, dry cleaning bags, grocery bags, ice bags, newspaper sleeves, plastic casings/shrink wraps, produce bags, salt bags, wood-pellet bags, and Ziploc-style re-closeable bags – all of which also can be recycled through OCCA and participating grocery stores.
Posted 5/4/2022