Press and Highlights

To Whom It May Concern,

 

My name is Danielle Curley and I am the Education and Events Coordinator at Riverbend Environmental Education Center in Gladwyne, PA. I am writing this letter in support of Youth Sustainability Leaders, Alex Borghese and Camila Tobon, to enthusiastically praise their work and commitment to sustainability in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania.

 

I have the pleasure of living and working in Lower Merion Township. Since the summer of 2021, I have been involved with the township’s efforts to create and implement a sustainability plan. Once the sustainability plan was written and received by the township, my involvement transitioned to implementation including community education and public engagement.

 

I was first introduced to Alex through Paloma Vila, the Sustainability Manager for Lower Merion in the fall of 2023. She shared with me his interest in getting involved and his desire to focus on the issue of plastic pollution. Alex had already done some great work to educate the public by creating a website about plastic pollution, in particular how it is affecting our oceans. He asked for my feedback about the work and any suggestions I had for further action.

 

Having seen this project done by other school groups, I suggested that Alex look into the NexTrex Recycling Challenge. He immediately saw the large effort required to successfully implement such a project so he recruited help from other students including Camila Tobon. In a short time, Alex and Camila had successfully established Youth Sustainability Leaders. They took my NexTrex suggestion and ran with it!

 

I was so pleased to see how quickly and successfully they implemented plastic recycling all around the township during the summer of 2024. They created shareable information like flyers and social media posts, contacted local businesses including grocery stores and other community institutions like libraries to get the word out. A plastic collection bin was installed at Riverbend as well. By late August 2024, over 1,000 pounds of plastic had already been collected and a bench made from recycled plastic was delivered to Riverbend.

 

Attached are some pictures from August 27, 2024, the day the bench was assembled and installed on Riverbend’s preserve near our turtle pond.

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​Collection of plastics is still continuing throughout the township, with plans for more benches to be installed at Riverbend or other community spaces like libraries. It has been my pleasure to work with Alex and Camila and see the fruits of their labor. Their action project has made a tangible difference in our community to both reduce waste and benefit local organizations that serve the community.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I am honored to support this project and these great young leaders!

 

With gratitude,​