Rotary Club donates first recycled bench to Roudenbush

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WESTFORD — After nearly six months of collecting plastic materials, the Westford Rotary Club unveiled its first of 10 recycled benches to be donated around Westford.

The benches were created by the Trex Company, which uses over 500 pounds of collected plastic film and repurpose it into a useable bench. Items including grocery bags, ice bags, bubble wrap and newspaper sleeve were collected for the project.

The project originally began on April 10, 2021, where Westford Rotary collected over 6,000 pounds of plastic materials from school and community recycling programs. This material will be used to create an additional nine benches over the next five years.

“By recycling these items and keeping them out of the trash, money was saved for Westford,” wrote Westford Rotary in a news release.

The first bench was dedicated to the Roudenbush Community Center, which served as a storage site for much of the plastic used in the project. The bench currently resides outside of the center’s recently renovated playground.

“We’re honored to receive the bench and I know all the hard work it took on your part,” said Roudenbush Community Center Director Michelle Sullivan. “Tons and tons of seemingly pounds of plastic was used and we are so happy to have it.”

She continued, “It’s great timing since we’ve just reopened our playground after renovation to make it more accessible.”

The bench was officially dedicated on Sept. 8, 2022. A second bench is planned to be donated to a separate Westford organization in the coming weeks.

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