Plastics piling up at Moscow Charter School
School has collected 400 pounds of plastics not accepted by Moscow Recycling Center
Moscow Charter School students and teachers have collected about 400 pounds of plastics since the school started accepting recyclables from students, staff and community members in mid-October.
That’s nearly a quarter ton of materials that will not be dumped in a Boardman, Ore., landfill — the destination for Latah County solid waste — as the plastics are no longer accepted at the Moscow Recycling Center.
“It’s growing really well and people are interested in it,” said Kathryn Bonzo, a MCS fourth-grade teacher and Moscow city councilor.
The school is accepting plastic pellet bags, produce bags, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, grocery bags, cereal liners, food storage bags, case overwrap, packaging air pillows, ice bags and salt bags.
Bonzo said she and Tracy Hoffmeister, an eighth-grade teacher at the school, collect the plastics in cardboard boxes that hold about 650 plastic bags, or 7 to 10 pounds of plastic.
She said she and Hoffmeister deliver the plastics to either Safeway or WinCo in Moscow. The products are then trucked to Trex, the world’s largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking products.
Trex uses the recycled plastics to help manufacture decks, benches and other products.
Bonzo said the students help collect and weigh the plastic products before they are taken to the Moscow grocery stores. The students are astounded by how much plastic they have collected.
Bonzo said since the start of the program many students and their parents have converted to using more environmentally-friendly containers rather than Ziploc bags to pack lunches and snacks.
“That’s been the biggest surprise for everyone as we’ve started collecting, is how much there is of this particular group of plastic,” Bonzo said.
Bonzo said community members can drop off plastics during the charter school’s school hours.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.
