OCCA Plastic Recycling Challenge Announced

OTSEGO COUNTY—The Film Plastic Recycling Challenge, sponsored by the Otsego County Solid Waste Department, Otsego County Conservation Association and Casella, will begin on Wednesday, November 15 and run through Wednesday, April 24. It educates youth and the community about proper recycling of plastic bags and other plastic films that cannot be recycled in regular programs. The challenge focuses on collecting clean, dry plastic film to keep it out of landfills. It is open to all public and private K-12 schools and districts in the county.

“Despite more and more places banning single-use plastic bags, an estimated five trillion bags will be used in 2023,” said Otsego County Waste Management and Recycling Coordinator Kyle King. “Less than one percent are recycled. We’re hoping to change that.”

Film plastic includes bags, package wrap, bubble wrap, wood pellet bags, sandwich bags and others, King said. Traditional recycling programs cannot collect these materials, as the film can become caught in the machines uses to sort and process recycled items.

“New York State has had a film plastic recycling law for years, but many people are still unaware of it,” King said. “Many grocery stores and other large retailers are required to provide a place for consumers to drop off film plastics.”

In the challenge, schools will collect eligible film plastics from their community. The collected plastic will be weighed by students or volunteers and returned to a participating retailer. At the close of the contest, the school that has collected the most weight per capita will win.

Last year, eight school districts collected a total of 4,255.6 pounds. Richfield Springs won the elementary division with 2,408.7 pounds (10.5 per student) and Gilbertsville-Mount Upton won the secondary division with 289.9 pounds (2.1 per capita). Since the contest started in 2019, more than five tons have been collected.