Mission: The mission of the Green Team is to transform and model the way GBAC and its members think about, use and dispose of plastic and other waste material in chapter activities and in our community. To meet this mission, the Green Team models behaviors, informs chapter members, and advocates for elimination of SUP, responsible use of other plastic, and minimization of waste overall.
Green Team GOAL: Support the GBAC TXMN to determine and model behaviors that lead to elimination of Single-Use Plastic (SUP) and reduction of other plastic and waste. Provide GBAC members with information they can use to make decisions about their own use of plastic and/or in raising awareness of plastic use within the public.
The Green Team committee meets via Zoom at 6:30pm. on the 3rd Thursday of odd months. If you would like more information about the Plastic Film recycling Project and/or the Green Team, please contact Sandy Parker (847-903-7949) or Emily Morris (832-443-3617).
PLASTIC FILM RECYCLING PROJECT
Plastic is ENMESHED in our daily lives. We see it in single-use items, such as straws and grocery bags; longer-term applications, such as various elements in our vehicles; and vital tools, such as medical tubing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), all of which create plastic waste and ultimately micro- and nanoparticles that leach into our ecosystem and our bodies. But plastics also create jobs in the manufacture of these products. Plastic is not going away any time soon, and because of that, we need to do all we can to reduce plastic waste at every FEASIBLE level.
RECYCLING PLASTIC FILM IS ONE WAY WE CAN KEEP PLASTIC WASTE OUT OF OUR ECOSYSTEM.
In 2022, the Green Team committee collaborated with Johnson Space Center and University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) in a pilot program to recycle flimsy plastic (a.k.a. plastic film) and earn a plastic-composite bench from Trex Co. From April 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2022, the group collected more than 2,000 pounds of plastic film and earned 3 benches! The program was so successful that we have made this effort an ongoing volunteer opportunity and have collected over 5,000 pounds. Our last bench recipent was the Oleander Society of Galveston
As GBAC-TMN volunteers, you can assist with this effort each week by:
~ dropping off your plastic film at Carbide Park or UHCL (during normal operating hours)
~ weighing plastic you’ve collected at your home and delivering it to a local Kroger store
~ picking up the film from Carbide or UHCL and delivering it to a Kroger store (see below)
We are currently collecting plastic film for a bench for Independence Village in Texas City. Weigh your plastic, put the date and weight on the bag(s), take a picture and send it to Melissa Gregory at [email protected]. Then drop your bag(s) off at the nearest Kroger store.
Please refer to the two documents below when collecting your plastic film.
Be Part of the Pollution Solution!
As Texas Master Naturalists, reducing our plastic waste should be a daily concern, but since 2011, the month of July has been set aside for plastic-waste awareness worldwide. During “Plastic Free July,” the Plastic Free Foundation encourages participants worldwide to say “No” to single-use plastic (SUP). The plasticfreejuly.org website provides a 1+-minute video about how to avoid SUPs, a link to sign up for the Plastic Free July (PFJ) challenge, and a Pesky Plastics Quiz that collects data about participants’ current waste habits. A follow-up quiz is promised for August to see how participant habits changed because of the PFJ challenge. Locally, this special emphasis on plastic waste gives Texas Master Naturalists an opportunity to model and explain the importance of reducing the production and use of single-use plastics in our community. Won’t you join in this challenge? Click the links to learn more.
Associated links
Plastic Free July Challenge – plasticfreejuly.org
Galveston to be in a pilot for reusable restaurant take-out containers – Perpetual Galveston
Light-driven polymer recycling to monomers and small molecules – Peer-reviewed article In Nature Communications – Dec. 2023
The Story of Plastic – animated short video – 2021