Gathering with the bench from last year are, from left, first row: Gabriella Bourcier, secretary; and Carly Regan, vice president. Second row: Adam Baker, Interact Club advisor; Serena Mokhtari, former vice president; Sadie O’Brien, president; Caden Moher, treasurer; Eva Bourcier, public relations; Leah Rudolph, Rotary Club of the Abingtons representative.
Submitted Photos
AH Interact Club creates benches, sleeping mats through recycling
Plastic yarn, or ‘plarn’ balls.
Submitted Photos
Some bags of plastic that were recycled for the bench.
Submitted Photos
CLARKS SUMMIT — Abington Heights High School students found creative ways to help the community with recycled plastic.
The school’s Interact Club is working on two projects that involve this useful material. The members are collecting 1,000 pounds of plastic in order to make an outdoor bench to be placed near the school. They accomplished this goal last year and now have a bench in the school’s courtyard.
They are accepting donations of plastic bags, film and wrap from the school’s cafeteria and the Rotary Club of the Abingtons, which is sponsoring the project. The Rotary, especially club member Leah Rudolph, helps the club weigh the plastic donations. The Interact Club then delivers these plastic items to local businesses especially the Weis Markets in Clarks Summit and Scott Township.
“It’s crazy to see how much plastic builds up,” said the club’s secretary Gabby Bourcier. “When we get our collections and put our bags in one pile and weigh them. Just yesterday, there were fifteen bags and they all weighed about 100 pounds.”
The location of this year’s bench when the club reaches the goal of 1,000 pounds is yet to be determined but will be near the school.
The other project is “plarn” (plastic yarn). For this project, the Interact Club cuts plastic bags into strips and crochets them into sleeping mats to give to people who are experiencing homelessness.
“It’s a good way to reuse the plastic bags for a good cause,” said Anna Flynn, the club’s sophomore board representative.
The scraps from the plarn will be used for the bench project.
“I think it’s very cool watching how just bags of plastic that is considered waste turn into something so useful and so helpful,” said Sadie O’Brien, president of the Interact Club.
