Introduction

We are a team of five students at Connolly Middle School called The Recyclers that are among the 48 schools nationwide that have qualified to participate in the Final Challenge of the Lexus Eco Challenge, a national contest that encourages middle and high school students to develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities. Our team was awarded $10,000 for our entry in the Land Challenge earlier this academic year, and now, as a participant in the Final Challenge, we’ve been asked to take our environmental message to as wide an audience as possible.


Our message:

One hundred billion bags of plastic are used annually every year in the United States alone, according to the Wall Street Journal. These bags cause many problems. Landfills around the world are being filled up with this product. They are a huge source of litter, getting caught in trees and fences. Plastic bags are made from petroleum, which is a nonrenewable resource that causes pollution in the production process. Also, plastic bags don't break down well. They are harmful to many animals that become entangled in them or mistake them for food. Dozens of young children also die of suffocation from plastic bags every year. Do we really want to keep using one hundred billion bags each year because they are momentarily convenient?