'Plastics Are Forever' campaign named state runner up

A group of students at Malverne’s Howard T. Herber Middle School that participated this year in the Disney Planet Challenge was named a New York state finalist runner-up in the competition — an impressive honor, especially considering this was the group’s first time participating in the challenge.

As part of the challenge, students had to pick a global issue that is also a local issue and pose a solution to it. After much brainstorming and debate, the eighth-grade science research class decided to cover pollution — specifically in relation to plastics and their ability or inability, to be recycled — and launched a school-wide campaign titled “Plastics Are Forever.”

Disney’s Planet Challenge Middle School program is a free, project-based, environmentally-focused national competition for students in the sixth through eighth grades. The program emphasizes science and teaches students the skills needed to propose solutions to problems and gather research and evidence.

The science research class conducted massive research on the topic, including forming a relationship with a research vessel, the Algalita, which collects plastics out of major bodies of water. The students have also been going to area beaches and marine reserves to gather information and collect any plastics that are found polluting the waters. The children are especially interested in how plastic pollutes the waterways and this pollution’s effect on animals.

“I’m so proud of what these students have accomplished,” advisor Virginia DeLeo said. “We will certainly compete again next year, now that we have our foot in the door.”