Working in partnership with Mesa Public Schools and Bashas’ and Food City supermarkets, the City of Mesa will host a Plastic Bag Round-up Recycling Challenge from March 8-April 2 in honor of Earth Day. Elementary students at all Mesa Public Schools located within the City of Mesa will be challenged to bring in their no-longer-needed plastic grocery bags to help their class and/or school to become the top recycler. A goal has been set for students to collect and recycle one ton of plastic grocery bags.

At the end of the challenge, City of Mesa staff will calculate how many plastic bags were collected by all K-6 students. Winners in the following categories will be announced on Earth Day (April 22):
• Top Boy & Girl: The boy and girl who collect the most plastic bags in the entire district will each win a bike from Bashas’/Food City, a 1-hour ride on a City of Mesa recycle truck and have their photo featured on a recycle truck billboard sign.

• Top Class: The classroom that collects the most plastic bags in the entire district will win reusable bags from Bashas’/Food City and will have their class photo featured on a recycle truck billboard sign.

• Top School: The elementary school that collects the most plastic bags will win the 2010 Earth Day Plastic Bag Recycling Round-Up Challenge trophy!

The plastic bags that are collected will be taken to a local Bashas’ supermarket. From there, Bashas’ will send the bags to a recycling facility for processing. End uses for the material include plastic lumber, carpet and playground equipment. Even after the challenge ends, Mesa residents are encouraged to continue recycling their plastic grocery bags by taking them back to their local retailer including their neighborhood Bashas’ and Food City grocery store. Source reduction is an even better option and can be accomplished by reducing the number of grocery bags used or by using reusable bags instead.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 2.9 million tons of bags, sacks and wraps were generated in 2008 but only 390 thousand tons were recycled, equaling a 13.4 percent recovery rate.

For more information about the Plastic Bag Round-up Recycling Challenge, please visit www.mesarecycles.org.