Recycling can be frustrating. Many haulers only accept certain types of plastic (typically those labeled No. 1 or 2).

But a nonprofit in Washington County has found a way to take a large amount of typically non-recyclable plastic and turn it into usable items such as park benches, which local groups and businesses can “adopt” and install.

“One day I ran a Google search on how I could recycle plastic and plastic lids, and there was a link for a company in Evansville, Ind., called Green Tree Recycling,” said Fern Sibert, a member of the nonprofit group Clean and Tidy Our County.

Green Tree Recycling accepts several types of plastic that most local haulers don’t accept, such as low-density polyethylene, generally labeled as No. 4 plastic, and polypropylene, generally labeled No. 5 plastic. Those two categories include a wide variety of items including caps for detergent, hair spray, toothpaste, deodorant, apple sauce and peanut butter jars, and ice cream buckets.

They also accept high-density polyethylene plastics (No. 2), and take caps for milk jugs, ketchup squeeze bottles, spray paint cans, ointment tubes, medicine bottles, sodas and soft drinks.

One of the local collection points for Clean Up and Tidy Our County is the Citizens Library in Washington.

“Fern was one of the guest speakers at the Primo Italiano Lodge where I belong, and she was looking for donation centers,” said Kathy Pienkowski, operations manager at Citizens Library. “So we put a collection area at the library, and it’s gone viral. I have to call her once a week to come pick up the donations.”

Green Tree creates a wide variety of items from the recycled plastic. A 4-foot bench made from “plastic lumber” requires about 100 pounds of donated recyclables and costs a little more than $180. Most similar commercial benches, even if they are made of the same material, typically cost more than twice that amount. The company also offers several styles of tables, landscaping “timber” and parking stops.

Green Tree’s program began life in 2010 as the ABC Promise Partnership program.

It was started by a group of eighth graders as their entry in a nationwide academic competition about community problem solving. Today, the partnership includes more than 7,000 groups in 45 states, according to Green Tree officials, and helps reinforce the importance of recycling.

“Every lid has to be washed and dried,” Sibert said. “And all the food has to be cleaned off. If there’s any food left on it, it’ll cause bacteria to grow and the plastic will break down faster.”

A group of Clean and Tidy Our County volunteers recently returned from Evansville, Ind., with 11 new benches made by Green Tree Plastics.

“We just dropped one off that was ‘adopted’ by a day care center, one at First Presbyterian Church in Washington, and another at a local business that ‘adopted’ one,” Sibert said. “Luckily we had some volunteer kids working at our community garden willing to help out, because the benches weigh about 180 pounds each.”

The group is planning another round of plastic collections this fall. Sibert said she’s glad her pitch overcame the skepticism of some members.

“A lot of people said, ‘No one’s going to save plastic lids,’ ” Sibert said, “but the last time I went around to collect donations we ended up with another 500 pounds.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)