This summer, Cheshire, Connecticut-based Heavy Weight, Inc. and Plainville, Connecticut-based H.W. Green Company have gotten an early start on the back-to-school season by donating backpacks and school supplies to the Cheshire Food Pantry and Plainville Food Pantry.
“Our companies have always been involved in and given back to our communities,” said Krista Ostuno, president of Heavy Weight and H.W. Green Company. “Providing donations for back-to-school season is no different.”
This year, Ostuno’s goal was to provide her local food pantries with high-quality school supplies made with recycled materials. She got the idea from her work coordinating ReMA’s Best Young and Brightest (BYAB) program with the New England chapter board.
“For BYAB I wanted to make sure that we were ‘walking the walk’; the industry processes recycled materials, so it makes sense to use products made from recycled content in our daily lives,” she said. “After BYAB, I started exploring how to apply that philosophy to other areas of my companies’ work.”
Right after the 2023-2024 school year ended, Ostuno reached out to Cheshire and Plainville community food pantries and found out that Cheshire was looking for over 70 backpacks and Plainville needed about 60.
“I shopped for supplies very early in June, so I was able to fulfill each pantry’s full list,” Ostuno said. “For other recycling companies looking to give back in this way I highly recommend starting early to make sure you find high quality supplies.”
She was able to get a wide selection of colors and sizes for backpacks along with composition notebooks, pens, pencils, and even highlighters made from recycled plastic. Ostuno hopes to participate in back-to-school programs each year and everywhere her businesses are based.
“These are our communities, and this is a need we feel is important for the next generation,” Ostuno said. “The first time they see that their notebooks and pens are made using recycled content it might not sink in, but overtime, as they recognize that these products are the same or even better in terms of materials, then it’s a win. We’re also spreading the word about how recycled materials are essential in our everyday lives.”
For recycling companies that are interested and able, Ostuno recommends doing local outreach such as contacting regional food pantries or school boards to determine your community’s needs.
“As recyclers, we need to live out the work that we do,” Ostuno said. “Giving back in this way helps reinforce that recycled materials are truly essential to our world and our everyday lives.”
