Wooster Noon Lions Club donates environmentally friendly benches at Kinney Field

Wayne County Public Communications
·1 min read
Tim Bogner, left, and Brian Staley of Bogner Construction install an environmentally friendly bench at Kinney Field made from 500 pounds of plastic bags.
Tim Bogner, left, and Brian Staley of Bogner Construction install an environmentally friendly bench at Kinney Field made from 500 pounds of plastic bags.

WOOSTER - Those taking a stroll around the county-owned property at Kinney Field will notice the addition of two new benches along the asphalt path, donated by the Wooster Noon Lions Club.

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“Each bench represents 500 pounds of plastic shopping bags, said club member Steve Thornton. “Can you imagine that many bags piled up? That would be a pretty big pile.”

The benches are produced by the Virginia-based Trex Corp., formed in 1996, and offer the industry’s most comprehensive array of high-performance composite products available in more than 40 countries worldwide.

Wooster Noon Lions Club members Steve and Becky Thornton pose beside one of the benches recently donated to Kinney Field.
Wooster Noon Lions Club members Steve and Becky Thornton pose beside one of the benches recently donated to Kinney Field.

Once the club collected the bags and transported them to Trex, the benches took six months to arrive. Thornton attributes the extended wait time to their popularity.

“This is the first time we have done this, but we would like to do more,” Thornton continued. “Once we collect enough bags, we will have more benches.”

While the benches are commercially available in retail stores, Thornton said there is no cost to get the benches made to Wayne County or the Noon Lions Club.

Becky Thornton, Steve’s wife and Noon Lions Club member, said that projects like the park benches fit into the club’s global environmental effort. Other causes include:

  • Diabetes

  • Vision

  • Hunger

  • Pediatric cancer

This help keeps plastic out of the oceans and landfills and puts it to good use,” she said.

Visit the club’s website at www.woosternoonlions.org .

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: New Kinney Field benches made from 500 pounds of plastic bags