Westchester By The Minute

The prompt for my senior year project in environmental science was, "Make A Change." Thinking of various ways that I could make more conscious choices to live a more sustainable lifestyle, I immediately took note of the amount of plastic bags that I collected and threw out on a daily basis. Through weeks of research I was able to calculate that in Westchester County, NY, 575 plastic bags are used per minute and that across the United States 1 million bags are used per minute. That is A LOT of plastic trash.

Project Timeline:

February 2015 - I pitched my call to action to my senior class in L.I.F.E. (Learning Interdependently From Experience) for feedback. "Westchester By The Minute" was ranked #1 out of #25 projects to be most successful by my peers and teacher.

March 2015 - As president of my high school's Environmental Club, S.T.O.P. (Students and Teachers for Our Planet), I began organizing and executing my idea for an exposition in Chappaqua, NY, my town in New Castle. To give kids and adults alike an opportunity to learn and see firsthand the drastic impact plastic and paper bags have on our own community.

The idea was to collect 575 used plastic bags through donations. We advertised as a way to, "make use of those bags stuffed in your pantries, under your sink, or just that single bag you held onto after your trip to CVS this morning." Then we planned to make a visual display of this 575 bags that our county uses per minute in a location that was unavoidable.

April 2015 - So we started collecting on Monday...

Then by Thursday.....

Just through word of mouth and in drop off boxes around town, my club and I had collected 575 used, donated and recycled bags collected in less than a week! On average each individual was dropping off 15 bags each.

I then went to the town hall to request a space for our team to display this exposition with the goal in mind to raise awareness and kickstart the movement to have plastic bags banned from our town!

With the support and dedication from my S.T.O.P. team, I spoke at 6 different Town Halls around Westchester county to request a public space large enough for the display, and the first town to allocate space was sure enough my hometown of Chappaqua, NY.

May 2015 - The exposition was created, organized, publicized and put up!

"The Reusable Bag Art Exposition will both demonstrate the negative impact of single-use bags and support the transition to more environmentally-friendly reusable ones. There will be opportunities to see, in an interactive way, the drastic impact single-use bags have on Chappaqua, with activities for the whole family. Held at the same time and location as the Chappaqua Farmers Market, this event is a convenient, delicious way to support local businesses as well as the environment." - The Patch

Click Here to learn more about the exposition!

Below are pictures from the event at the Chappaqua Train Station from June 2, 2017:

June 2015 - As I graduated from Horace Greeley Class of 2015, my project and goal of banning plastic bags had not yet been accomplished. So I signed off and agreed to pass on my research and information to New Castle Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein and the New Castle's Sustainability Advisory Board.

July 2015 - As I began to organize and plan for my freshman year of college, at The University of Southern California, I was happy to accept the offer from the Greenburgh Nature Center in Westchester, NY to purchase my exposition of plastic bags and have it be a display when they are hosting other exhibits relating to sustainability at the Nature Center.

Here is a picture of our first collaboration titled, "1 CAMERA, 2 HOURS, HOW MANY PLASTIC BAGS?" An exhibit where the Greenburgh Nature Center engaged high school students from all over Westchester County to study the effects of single- use plastic bags on the environment. Students were challenged to go out into their communities with a camera to document plastic bag litter they could find in just two hours, and turn the photos into art.

January 2017 - The law was finally passed, and my project is complete. If you ever want to use a plastic bag, New Castle is not the place for you!

I am eternally grateful for my team at S.T.O.P., Gabby Resnik , my advisor Ms. MaryRose Joseph my advisory, Mikey Rubin, my parents for letting me use their office space to tie together about 600 plastic bags and then store them, and to the New Castle Sustainability Advisory Board for their hard works and dedication for passing this law and understanding the importance of working together through a brighter and greener tomorrow.