A woman leaves a store carrying her groceries in plastic bags on Friday, May 15, 2015 in Montreal. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)
A challenge to Manitoba schools to collect as many plastic bags as they can in an effort to keep them out of the landfill has brought in 1.4 million of them.
The 2015 Bag Up Manitoba Plastic Bag Challenge saw the bags baled and shipped to Trex, a company that recycles them into composite decking material and other products.
The students at Ecole George V School were one of this year’s winners and collected over 33,000 bags. A school bench made out of 5,000 plastic bags and wood fibers was presented to the school on Monday.
Teulon Elementary School was a rural winner who collected 81,370 bags, which breaks the record for the most plastic bags ever collected by one school in the program.
A total of 160 schools across the province participated in the Take Pride Winnipeg! and Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba program.
