PLUMSTED — While a good pair of jeans may last a while, a group of environmentally conscious teenagers from Plumsted hopes to turn denim into dream homes.
From now through June 19, Plumsted Youth for Nature and the Environment (PYNE) is collecting used blue jeans and other denim items in the Blue Jeans Go Green program.
“We want people to know how important it is to recycle,” PYNE member James Sonday said. “Everything has a second use.”
The Blue Jeans Go Green program was created in 2006 by Cotton Inc. The program takes used denim jeans and repurposes them into UltraTouch Denim Insulation. The insulation is then donated to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity for use on projects throughout the country.
According to the program’s website, more than 1.1 million pairs of jeans have been collected and converted to date, creating about 2 million square feet of insulation and keeping more than 600 tons of denim from landfills across the United States.
Sonday learned about the program while he was searching online for community projects. He said the members of PYNE hope to collect several hundred pairs of jeans during the drive.
Collection bins have been placed at the Plumsted Township municipal building, 121 Evergreen Road, and at the Dr. Gerald H. Woehr Elementary School, 44 N. Main Street. The group collected jeans and denim at New Egypt Day earlier this month.
Sonday said more than 100 pairs of jeans had been collected as of May 21.
“We are not really looking for money as much as we are looking for jeans, but we are willing to take donations, too, because shipping costs are going to be pretty expensive,” he said.
Sonday said Blue Jeans Go Green is a natural fit for the group’s mission to let local youths drive environmental stewardship in Plumsted.
“We are just trying to get the community involved by helping others and making people aware of how fortunate (people here) are,” he said.