South Greensburg church team honoured for their aluminium can recycling initiative

Recycling is a crucial component of the aluminium sector, which is commercially, technically, and environmentally sound. Similar is the situation with a group of volunteers at St. Bruno Parish in South Greensburg, who are acclaimed for their recycling initiative. In 2016, the Creation Care Team was established due to Pope Francis' encyclical from the year before.

Locals have welcomed the Creation Care Team's drop-off recycling programme for commodities like aluminium cans and glass containers. Their efforts have been appreciated by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, a Greensburg-based non-profit organisation whose goals include promoting clean-ups of litter and unlawful dumping around the state.

According to Tom Niggel, one of the founding members of the volunteer group, "care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans and the Earth."

By taking aluminium can donations outside the St. Bruno church, Niggel's organisation started to fill the recycling gap. He said that since then, the initiative had prevented around 4 tonnes of aluminium from entering the trash stream. The collected aluminium goods are frequently sent to Greensburg's Daniels & Miller recycling facility. Since then, the organisation has added tin cans to the supplies brought there.

"Aluminum and glass are both products that can be recycled indefinitely," added Niggel.

He stated that the parish would keep the money it got for the aluminium to help with its community outreach initiatives. Each week, members of the Creation Care Team deliver clear, green, and brown coloured glass containers to the Westmoreland Cleanways facility.

Additionally, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful recognised the City of McKeesport with a Community Partner Award for securing volunteers, cash, and resources to assist in the clean-up of unpermitted disposal sites in the Mon Valley. In recognition of Jan Nehilla's work on clean-up efforts at waste sites, Allegheny Cleanways put her forward for a Volunteer of the Year Award.