Julia Goldman, Congregation Kol Am

Recycling is very important to Julia, daughter of Elizabeth and Scott Goldman – especially, the recycling of plastic grocery bags.

Julia’s family lives in Chesterfield and she could not understand why a service isn’t provided that picks up these bags at curbside. There are many elderly people in Julia’s community who are unable to take their plastic bags to the bins provided by their local grocery stores. As a result, they become part of the regular trash pickup, where they end up in landfills. Julia decided to help out her neighbors.

A student at Parkway Central Middle School, Julia created fliers about her project and put them on doors of her neighbors, asking them to leave their plastic bags on their front porch. For about three months, Julia spent part of her Sunday afternoons collecting bags and dropping them off at her local Dierbergs. Her mother said that Julia was amazed at the number of people who did not participate. “It gave her a reality check on how the world can really be self-centered and preoccupied with themselves,” she said. Collecting over 500 bags, Julia was glad she made a difference in a small way.

She said plastic bags cannot be placed in recycle bins, because they clog the recycling machines. At some facilities, about a quarter of workers’ time goes toward taking plastic bags out of the sort line and the machinery. Dierbergs has a “bag to bag” program where the plastic bags that are dropped off at their locations are guaranteed to be recycled into new bags.

Mitzvot from the Heart is compiled by Editorial Assistant Elise Krug. Contact Elise at [email protected].