Go Green Wilmette Pilot Project Backyard Ice Rink Liners Recycling

Typically plastic ice rink liners can¹t be picked up for recycling and usually end up in garbage dumps. As part of a Go Green Wilmette pilot program, residents of Wilmette and nearby communities had their first opportunity to recycle their rink liners.  This program was organized by Go Green Wilmette, and made possible with the support of the Wilmette Park District and Adams Plastics, as well as the Wilmette Bike Shop and local hockey clubs that helped spread the word, and Boy Scout Troop 5 volunteers who tirelessly helped unload and stack the liners.

Some of the liners came to the drop off area on top of vehicle roofs, and others were stuffed into hatchbacks and vans.  Volunteers were fantastic in assisting with the drop off.  Volunteer Saima Abbasi said, "It was great to meet Dan Callahan and his awesome Boy Scout troop# 5! During my one hour of volunteering, I met people from Northfield, Winnetka, Evanston, and of course Wilmette.  The people who were coming to drop off the liners were all very excited and thankful that Go Green Wilmette was offering such a great service for free!  We need to to let the community know about this amazing program. More people need to know for next year!"

Margrit Kuehn, who spearheaded this event said, "On behalf of Go Green
Wilmette, I would like to thank all who have participated in this pilot
recycling program to keep plastic liners from backyard ice rinks out of
our landfills. Many thanks for spreading the word about the event last
Sunday, posting it on your websites and passing out flyers! And a big
thank you to those who spent hours receiving, unloading, folding and
stacking the liners. A special thank you to the scouts from troupe 5, we
couldn't have done it without you!  Thank you to the residents for
making the effort of bringing their plastic liners, we believe we
collected more than 100, to be picked up by Adams Plastics."

This program has clearly shown itself to be effective and appreciated,  so watch for it next year.