For eco-conscious students across the country, it pays to be green – this year more than ever! Trex Company recently concluded its 15th annual Trex® Plastic Film Recycling Challenge.
The nationwide challenge kicks off each fall on America Recycles Day and concludes the next spring on Earth Day. Over the course of five months, students in grades K-12 worked together to collect and recycle the most polyethylene plastic film for the chance to win high-performance Trex products to beautify their campuses.
For the first time ever, students involved in the latest challenge also competed for the chance to win cash prizes for their schools, thanks to corporate sponsor Charter Next Generation (CNG), one of the leading providers of specialty polyethylene films in North America.
“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 Company. “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.”
Started in 2007, the Trex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge was conceived to educate students about upcycling and actively engage them in the recycling of plastic film, a key ingredient in the company’s low-maintenance and eco-friendly composite decking, which is made from 95 percent recycled and reclaimed materials. Students from 686 schools participated in the 2021-2022 challenge. Together, they collected a combined total of 323,586 pounds of polyethylene plastic film, contributing to the nearly 400 million pounds of plastic film that Trex diverts from landfills annually.
Trex awards prizes to the top recyclers based on grade level, school size and region. Fifty-seven regional winners were recognized this year, representing schools from across the country. Coming out on top in the 2021-2022 challenge was Moscow Charter School, located in Moscow, Idaho, where students collected 7,735 pounds 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, South Carolina, and North Cross High School in Roanoke, Virginia. Prizes of $2,500 each go to the second place winners at each level, including Woodland Elementary School in Monroe Township, New Jersey, Einstein Middle School in Appleton, Wisconsin, and York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Additionally, a special award of $2,500 goes to the students at Maple Grove Elementary School in Greenfield, Wisconsin, 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. In addition to the cash prizes, CNG developed and managed a landing page, Recycle2Win.com, which showcased a leaderboard, social media activity and competition news.