We all know the drill. You unwrap your latest gizmo from Amazon, set it up, and are left with a pile of trash sometimes completely out of proportion to the size of said gizmo. A cardboard box within a cardboard box which contains the gizmo in a box, packed in foot after foot of plastic bubble-wrap, shrink wrapped in plastic and surrounded by styrofoam molds.
Thankfully, the Williamsburg recycling brochure tells us we can chuck the cardboard into the brown bin. However, unless the gizmo came packed in a plastic bottle, all the other trash is headed for the landfill…at least initially. This National Geographic article discusses how marine debris, primarily plastic, often originates from waste properly disposed of in landfills. Unfortunately, that bubble wrap you put in the blue bin may yet end up in the Atlantic Gyre.
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Note to Ed Lindsey: I actually did have to look up gyre.
The Williamsburg Host Lions Club decided to do something about the problem. They began collecting soft plastic in May 2021 to make park benches for local schools. (Here is a brochure explaining exactly what they mean by ‘soft plastic.’) The VA Gazette ran an article explaining the new service, an article to which I can’t link. (The online archives only go back a year, and are only available to subscribers.)
Flora Adams, who is a subscriber, read the article and started taking her plastic for recycling. She has also offered to collect plastic from the BL neighborhood, which she will take to the Lions Club collection point.
I had the pleasure of talking to Flora about her participation in the recycling program.
Why are you so concerned about plastic recycling?
“I can’t stand the thought of all this plastic ending up in the ocean,” said Flora. Her daughter lives near the coast in California, and when Flora visits, she is distressed by the amount of plastic on the beach, knowing that most of it will end up adding to The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a Texas-sized island of plastic debris in the eastern Pacific.
How much soft plastic do you generate each month?
After scrambling to weigh a bird-seed sack full of plastic, Flora estimates she and Stewart throw away nearly a kilo per month. That may not sound like much, but every gram turned into a park bench is a gram that won’t end up swirling around the Atlantic.
How will you collect plastic from around the neighborhood?
Whenever Flora’s plastic collection looks ready for a trip to the recycling location, she will ask Molly to send out a note to the neighborhood asking everyone to drop the plastic on her porch. She will take it from there.
Alternately, because it’s so light, we could probably foist it on her while she walks Sir Vincent around the neighborhood. “Hello, Flora! Nice to see you and Vincent. And oh by the way, here is a nice bag of trash for you to take home.”
The Lions Club Soft Plastic Recycling Program
I had and email exchange with Lion Pat Kerr of the Williamsburg Host Lions Club, (WHLC) who answered some questions about the initiative in which Flora participates.
- [WHLC] began [the] program in May 2021
- [WHLC] have donated 3 benches to date: to FISH for their new location on Second Street and two benches to Lafayette High School. [A fourth bench is in the hopper, but must wait until December. More on this later.)
- [WHLC] collects plastic from members, their surrounding neighborhoods, FISH, several stores in Merchants Square and local businesses located in the city of Williamsburg.
Lion Pat concludes that, “…our soft plastic collection is a very high priority for the Williamsburg Host Lions Club! The more we can keep out of our environment the better!”
The acknowledged expert and spokesperson for this program is Lion Jack Reitz of the James City Lions Club, who started their soft plastic recycling program in August 2020 and has so far donated five benches to local schools. He explained in more detail the definition of ‘soft plastic’ and described what happens to the plastic after collection.
Exactly what is ‘soft plastic?’
Every description I wrote included the words “soft” and “plastic,” so instead I’ll simply point you to the official flyer below. It’s multi-page so you will need to scroll down to see the entire document.
Some plastics, such as garden product bags (mulch, soil, sand..) and pet food bags can’t be used because the plastic is contaminated by the product it contains. (Exception: Flora notes they will accept bird seed bags.) It’s too bad shiny and crunchy plastic is a no-no. All you chip bags, back in the blue bin!
Why only soft plastic?
The recycling program is sponsored by Trex, the decking company, out of their plant in Winchester, VA. According to Lion Jack, the Trex manufacturing process requires the specific chemical makeup of ‘soft plastic’ in order to extrude the famous decking material. To summarize the program, organizations able to donate 500 lbs of soft plastic to Trex receive a bench in exchange. The catch is that these organizations may only do so once every six months. Hence why WHLC must wait until December to send their next batch of plastic for processing.
What happens to the excess plastic you collect?
The James City Lions Club (JCLC) has collected over 12,000 pounds of plastic so far, more than they can use to exchange for benches. Lion Jack explained that it doesn’t go to waste, or get sent to landfills. JCLC helps other organizations who may be a little short of their 500 lb quota, even, on occasion, WHLC.
If anyone would like to donate plastic directly to the JCLC, the flyer below explains their pickup times and locations.
And now for something completely different.
Just for fun, I decided to play around with DALL-E now that it is open to the public.
I fed the AI program the phrase, “Old master painting of a Lions Club member snatching a plastic bag from a plastic bag storm headed towards the ocean.” I think it did a pretty good job of generating a picture of the description. Although I meant to ask for “Dutch Master” rather than “old Master,” I rather liked the result and decided to keep it.
Way cool, and a bit scary. It saved me from trying to tie in a reference to NASA Dart’s Dimorphos crash, which is also way cool, and a bit scary.
Last thoughts from Flora.
Flora would like us all to consider putting aside our soft plastic, for the good of our neighborhood, for now, and for the future. She leaves us with some final words.
“Please let me do this for you. [Collect soft plastic.] We need to do what we can to save the world, [and this is] my small part.”
Flora
Matsi Washburn-Brinkley