Buckhannon Rotary unveils new baler as plastic recycling program ramps up

BUCKHANNON – The Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur is working with the city to recycle soft plastics and eventually earn inclusive playground equipment.

The Rotary Club and various partners gathered at the City of Buckhannon Transfer Station to perform a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 15 for their new baler, which will help recycle more soft plastic.

“Many of our partners are here today, and I’ll be talking to you about how many we have in the community,” Rotary club member Keith Buchanan said. “First, we’d like to welcome Julie Sawyer, who’s our district governor, because she was responsible, along with the rest of the district, for giving Rotary two grants that paid for the lion’s share of this baler. The rest came from our club.”

Soft plastics include plastic shopping bags, bread bags, produce bags, ice bags from the pantry, Ziploc and other reclosable storage bags, cereal box liners, case overwrap from products like bottled water and paper towels, plastic e-commerce mailers, bubble wrap, dry-cleaning bags and newspaper sleeves.

“We started this program because of an idea to turn a problem, which is throwing plastic stuff into landfills, into an opportunity, and the opportunity is that we could figure out a way to capture that and process it,” Buchanan said. “Not only will we keep it out of landfills, but we could turn it into something good for lasting impact.”

Plastics must be clean, dry and free of food or organic residue before drop-off.

“When we process it, it’s picked up by Trex. Trex is one of the world’s largest producers of recycled plastics, and they gave us a challenge. They said, ‘If you can get 1,000 pounds just to prove you can do it, we’ll give you a bench made out of Trex material.’ Well, we got that, and we put it in front of the Gibson Library,” Buchanan said.

“What’s next is, if we get enough, we can earn inclusive playground equipment for kids who can’t currently use equipment already at a playground — things like sensory panels, things that are not just about climbing, but things that anybody can use and enjoy. That’s what our end goal is.”

Trex provides 12 cents a pound for baled soft plastics.

“This can last for as long as we want to do it, as long as it’s easy and people understand what it is,” Buchanan said. “This was a challenge, just starting with a few people, which included our pickup team, and a number of businesses that started as collection points.”

Kelley Tierney State Farm and Coldwell Banker were the original drop-off points, but the collaborations with local businesses grew over time.

“We now have 32 partners that are part of this organization, some of the biggest employers in the county. We have Wendling’s Food Service and we have Weyerhaeuser. These two businesses are baling plastic already,” Buchanan said.

“Weyerhaeuser is using a baler we purchased from Wendling’s. They store it in the warehouse, and Trex will eventually come and pick it up. But they already have over 10,000 pounds produced. That’s five tons,” he said.

Wendling’s is baling about two to three bales a week, weighing an average of 800 pounds.

“Wendling’s is giving us something like two bales a week for three or four months that weigh an average of 800 pounds and 3,000 pounds,” he said.

Buchanan also read a list of participating businesses that act as drop-off points for donated soft plastic.

That list included:

• Upshur County Chamber of Commerce
• Upshur County CVB
• St. Joseph’s Hospital
• MRC Global
• Sefpro
• Tractor Supply
• Triple L Mart
• American Mattress
• Ralph’s Furniture
• Harper Lumber
• Coldwell Banker
• Moonflower
• Buckhannon City Hall
• Upshur County Courthouse
• Upshur County Development Authority
• Mountain CAP
• Upshur County Parish House
• Upshur County Senior Center
• Chapel Hill Church
• South Buckhannon Mission Church
• West Virginia Wesleyan College
• Buckhannon-Upshur High School
• Appalachian Impact on Main Street