There's a lot of power in plastic. That's what Maria Wassell and other members of the Mount Joy Lions Club found out after they started a program to collect plastic and turn it into community benches.

"I was looking for a project that would not be too strenuous because our club is getting older," Wassell said. "I saw an article in a Lions magazine about turning plastic bags into benches and I thought it sounded like something we could do."

The club learned that Weis Markets in Mount Joy was a cooperating partner in the program, meaning the store would take whatever the club collected and give it to Trex, the company creating the benches. Trex sent the club collection containers and posters to advertise the types of plastic to collect.

"For every 500 pounds of plastic we collected, we could earn a bench to put out in our community," Wassell remarked. "It takes a lot of bags to get to 500 pounds."

In 2019, the group began collecting plastic at its twice-a-month meetings and also placed collection boxes throughout Mount Joy. Bins are currently located at The Country Store, St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, JB Hostetter & Sons, Jim Roberts West Main Auto, The Gathering Place and Florin Church of the Brethren.

"We would collect the bags weekly and then go to Weis and weigh them and report the weight we collected to Trex," she explained. "We could earn one bench every six months."

The club members assumed it would take a long to time to collect enough plastic for a bench, but they were happily surprised to be wrong.

"We earned one within the first six months," Wassell stated. "So, we had a bench, and now we had to figure out what to do with it and how to indicate it's a gift to the community."

Then COVID-19 hit, and although the club stopped meeting in person, the members still collected bags.

"Within the next six months, we earned another bench," Wassell said. "We knew it was time for us to get serious about what to do with these benches."

The club decided to have a member attend a borough council meeting and ask where the community would like the benches. "It sounds like they are going to be placed in community park areas throughout Mount Joy," Wassell noted. "In the meantime, we have earned a third bench."

With many projects shut down during the pandemic, the bag collections actually expanded, she said. More collection sites were added, along with additional types of plastic. At JB Hostetter & Sons, for example, the group collects large amounts of pallet wrap.

"More businesses could participate in that way, and we'd love it if they did, because pallet plastic is a heavier plastic than grocery bags, so it weighs more," Wassell said. The program accepts a variety of plastics, including grocery bags, bread bags, newspaper sleeves, zipper-top bags, bubble wrap and produce bags, among other types.

"At the beginning, 500 pounds seemed unreachable to us, but I just couldn't believe how happy people were to be participating in this project with us," Wassell remarked. "As a club, we try to find projects that are going to benefit the community in whatever way we can, and this fits in perfectly with that mission."