Be a Zero Hero! – Protecting The Chesapeake One Plastic Bag at a Time

Be a Zero Hero! – Protecting the Chesapeake One Plastic Bag at a Time

Written by the Zero Hero Team of the CAPA-MC Growing & Giving Club.

The CAPA-MC (Chinese American Parent Association – Montgomery County) Growing & Giving Club was formed by a group of middle and high school students in MCPS passionate about healthy living and environmental protection.

A significant part of our focus has been tackling the major issue of plastic pollution. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average United States citizen generates around 487 pounds of plastic waste annually, increasing the size of landfills and polluting our watersheds. Since plastic bags and films are not typically recycled, they contribute significantly to this problem. Nowadays, microplastics are found everywhere: in the ocean, in local watersheds, in sea creatures, and even in the food we consume.

Concerned about this issue and seeking positive change, our club’s student leader Kenneth Shue, a current sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School, initiated the “Be a Zero Hero” plastic bags and film recycling project on January 1, 2023.

The project consists of two parts: educating the community and taking action to collect plastic film waste. To achieve our goals in education, club members designed various educational flyers highlighting the severity of plastic pollution and how individuals can help to reduce it and protect the local watershed. Then, we distributed these flyers to the public at community outreach events and encouraged them to change their behavior. Whether it be using reusable shopping bags or recycling plastic film, we hope to reduce the impact single-use plastics have on our community.

Since the project’s initiation, over the past year and a half, we have hosted 36 outreach events and reached over 6000 people within the community, thanks to the efforts of over 50 wonderful volunteers.

The student leader of the Zero Hero team presents to classrooms of MCPS students at the 2023 and 2024 MCPS Youth Climate Summits. 

In addition to the educational aspect, we also take action to prevent more plastic film from being thrown into regular trash cans and ending up in landfills. Therefore, we set up plastic film recycling bins in locations including the MCPS central office building, CCACC community centers, local Manna food banks, Chinese language schools, and more. Each recycling location has one or two recycling ambassadors (MCPS middle and high school students) to oversee it.

Near the end of the 2024 school year, we collected large amounts of the plastic AP and IB exam wraps that are generated during testing season. Since January 1, 2023, we’ve collected over 1500 pounds of plastic bags (roughly 112,500 plastic bags!), all of which have been donated to NexTrex, a leader in creating composite products out of recycled plastic films.

Be a Zero Hero team members drop off plastic bags and films into the recycling bin outside Giant grocery stores.

Plastic films that CAN be recycled.

Plastic films that CANNOT be recycled.

Due to our significant achievements in participating in the NexTrex company’s recycling challenge, in July of 2023, we received a bench made of recycled plastic as recognition of our efforts.

Encouraged by our success, we aim to expand this project across more communities and reach more people. We encourage everyone to take action today, leave zero plastic waste behind, and join us to protect the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed together!

Members of the CAPA-MC Growing & Giving Club stand beside a bench made of recycled plastic that was given to them in recognition of their efforts.

Zero Heroes hard at work!

Our recycling bin’s location and ambassadors list:

A list of our recycling locations and ambassadors: 

1. MeiZhong Chinese School at Richard Montgomery HS – Angie Shen, Sophie Shen, Nathan Tian, Janet Tian
2. BoChen Chinese School at Herbert Hoover MS – Sophie Huang
3. Hope Chinese School at Northwest HS – Alvin Tong，Anderson Tong
4. Hope Chinese School at Winston Churchill HS – Sky Zhang
5. Hope Chinese School at George C. Marshall HS – Yufeng Ding
6. Chinese Bible Church of Maryland Chinese School Rockville – Kenneth Shue and Alvin Zhan
7. Chinese Bible Church of Maryland Chinese School Gaithersburg – Fiona Lin
8. CAPA-MC JRC – Claire Yu and Emily Jia
9. MCPS Central Office – Jane Shue
10. Manna Food Center, Gaithersburg, MD – Kenneth Shue
11. Neelsville MS – Lucas Zhou
12. Whitman HS – Chen yayang
13. Fairland ES – Chen Wan
14. Forest Oak MS – Chen Wan
15. CCACC Community Center Gaithersburg – Kenneth Shue