Community Corner

Gill Mom Has Passion for Going Green

Gina Adams-Levy won tops honors in a Moms Who Make a Difference contest.

It started with garden plastic.

Northville resident Gina Adams-Levy, whose children attend in Farmington Hills, had been saving plastic pots and trays used in gardening, under the mistaken belief that she could recycle it. When she realized she couldn't, Adams-Levy said, "That was kind of the 'light bulb' moment."

In Farmington and Farmington Hills, the Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County (RRRASOC) won't accept garden plastics or wide-mouth plastic containers. Adams-Levy gathered 500 signatures asking the recycling authority to make a change, but to no avail.

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Rather than throwing up her hands, Adams-Levy went on a mission, collecting 500 pounds of garden plastics the first year. She also formed a nonprofit, Peace, Love and Planet (PLP), and once the organization got 501(c)3 status, she was able to hire interns – and boosted plastic collection to almost 20,000 pounds.

She did find a place that would take the plastic, Waste Management in Northville.

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"I was paid $1,200 for all of it, and that didn't cover all our costs. There was fuel, and we had to put a trailer hitch on my car and the intern's car," she said.

Money is one of the reasons people don't pursue recycling plastic the way they do copper, for instance. Adams-Levy isn't in this for the money; she's concerned about the future, for children and everyone else's.

Still, she does have costs to cover, and while her family is supportive, she doesn't want to dip into personal funds for Peace, Love & Planet.

So winning top honors last month in the Moms Who Make A Difference contest, sponsored by TerraCycle and Ziploc Brand came as a wonderful surprise.

"I'm shocked that I won," she said, "but I was so relieved, because it's a $1,500 cash award. ... The cash is funding our summer recycling initiative."

Adams-Levy was also given a video camera and was asked to record how she makes a difference. There's just one problem: Because of issues with getting permissions, she isn't able to include any children.

That's going to make it tough, she said, because children are an enormous part of what she does. In addition to working with Gill's student green team, Adams-Levy does school assemblies that show students how to assemble a waste-free lunch and share the importance of the "three Rs": reduce, reuse, recycle.

"There's a new 'R' this year: 'refuse,' " she said. The lesson urges students to refuse single-use disposable items, such as sippy cups in restaurants. "That one switch by refusing to accept those single-use disposables can make a huge difference."

Another take on refuse awareness could involve seeing another student throwing a plastic bottle in the trash. "You refuse to accept that as OK," she said.

Adams-Levy has targeted children because they're the most receptive to the message. Gill's waste-free Fridays, for instance, have cut waste in half. Students also work hard to be honored as a "green class," an honor that earns them a popcorn party (with reusable plastic bowls and cloth napkins) and a trophy made of – what else? – garden plastic.

Most people, she believes, don't intend to pollute the planet.

"I think there's just a simple lack of awareness," she said. "It's a tough hill, but I'm trying to make that challenge."


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