Mounds of plastic collected at the Sardys former school district in Bergen County. (Photo courtesy Amy Sardy)
Maddy Vitale
Emma Sardy likes living at the ocean. She appreciates its beauty and wants to make sure the beaches and the waterways are free of plastics.
She and her family moved to Ocean City from Ridgewood in Bergen County two years ago.
Since then, Emma Sardy, 16, an Ocean City High School junior and her brother, Nicholas, 12, who goes to the Intermediate School, are showing their community their proven track record of success with collecting plastics.
“Living in Ocean City allows me to see the impact that we have on our environment and enables me to work to lessen that impact,” Emma Sardy said.
Emma is involved in the S.E.A., Student Environmental Association, and she runs a 400-gallon fish tank in the high school. She is also a student member of the Ocean City Environmental Commission.
The Sardys became involved with collecting plastics partly because of the “Trex Challenge,” a recycling program by a deck company. The company gives out benches, bird feeders and other items to the top schools. For more information visit https://www.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs/
Mounds of plastic collected at the Sardys' former school district in Bergen County.
Amy Sardy said her children's former school district in Bergen County participated in the challenge. It interested the family so much, especially Emma, that they decided when they moved to Ocean City they would present the same challenge at the Ocean City School District.
District officials were very supportive of the idea and so far, the Intermediate School, with the help of Nick Sardy, and the high school believe in the challenge. Each school has bins set aside for people to drop off the plastics, Sardy explained.
“It is an amazing program. It is something that became important to our family,” she added.
She said the Intermediate School Trex Challenge has “taken off like gangbusters.”
“They have really embraced the idea of collecting plastic,” Sardy added.
Emma oversees the high school program.
Amy Sardy said she is pleased with her children for taking the initiative.
“I’m very proud of Emma for trying to do something outside the box. My kids have really taken this for their cause,” Sardy said. “Nick brought it to the Intermediate School, Emma to the high school.”
She added that Ocean City has done a really good job promoting it.
“Emma has been on morning announcements and emails are sent out detailing how it is going,” she said.
The winning Trex Challenge schools are awarded benches and other items made from recycled materials.
As a family, the Sardys, including Matt, the father, and sons Christopher, 13, and Brendan, 10, being environmentally conscious is an important part of their lives.
“When you personally start collecting the plastic that could get into the oceans or damage the environment, you realize how much one household contributes to that,” Amy Sardy said. “There is no way to live plastic-free, but you could recycle and reuse it. That way it is put to good use.”
