MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA – Superintendent Pam Beaudoin and Principal Joanne Maino are pleased to share that Manchester Essex Middle School students are participating in the Trex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge, a campaign designed to reduce the use of soft plastics.
The school Green Team – students Sean Aloi, Nate Chamberlain, Owen Gaudet, Anabel Ghirardi, and Arion Stremple — actively promotes environmental preservation and encourages other students to do the same.
The Trex Challenge asks students across the country to collect and recycle soft plastics such as bread wrappers, plastic cereal bags, bubble wrap, and sandwich bags. The Challenge opened on America Recycles Day (Nov. 15) and ends on Earth Day (April 22). During that time, students, faculty, and staff of the middle and high schools will deposit soft plastics in collections boxes the Green Team has placed throughout the building. Anabel also designed and posted several posters.
The Green Team plans to build an ocean-themed structure from the plastic it collects. Before deciding upon and designing the larger structure, they will experiment with various prototypes. Their first prototype is a jellyfish.
“We want to build awareness around the realities of soft plastic in our environment,” said Science Teacher Kia Petrie, who advises the Green Team. “These plastics cannot be recycled. They go to landfills and stay in our environment forever, which impacts the health of the planet and those who live on it.”
