BRISTOL – The students of Mountain View Elementary School got to enjoy the new playscape they won in an online contest for the first time at recess Thursday.   Principal Mary Hawk said she appreciated everything Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu and Superintendent Catherine Carbone did to help Mountain View get the word out and get the contest votes.   “It really was a team effort with a lot of people in the community voting,” Hawk said. “The police department, City Hall, everybody was emailing us and saying ‘we’re voting,’ so it’s really everybody’s playscape.”   Mountain View’s 30-year-old, rusting playscape was damaged by vandals and what was left had to be demolished in 2018, leaving mostly just a pile of dirt behind the school. The PTO had raised money six or seven years ago to put in a new balance beam, a seesaw and a small climbing wall nearby, she said.   The pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students had their own separate playscape that school installed four years ago through a grant, the principal said.   “So we had been trying to do fundraising but playscapes are incredibly expensive,” Hawk said. “We collected about $19,000 in the past three years that we’re going to use for additional pieces for our playground, either a climbing piece or some swings, but we did get the main piece by winning the contest.”   Volunteers from ESPN came to the school this past summer and painted a number of colorful game areas on the blacktop, to supplement the hopscotch and basketball hoops, she added. “That was really nice of them.”   Zoey Rupert, a fifth grader, said she was very excited when she first heard about the contest and even more excited when her school won. She said her mother got about 100 people to vote in the contest daily.   When Zoey started at Mountain View back in second grade the old playscape was already gone. She said she would mostly spend recess just walking around, because she didn’t know many other kids. “It was a little sad not having a playground, it was just empty space,” she said.   Zoey participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new playscape, giving a short speech she had written with her mother, but she held back from joining in the crowd of kids having fun the first day it was open – preferring to wait until it’s not so crowded.   However, she admitted she had already unofficially tried it out. “It was really nice,” she commented. “I liked it.”   Rebecca Bougie, a Mountain View paraeducator who has a daughter in fourth grade there, said it gives the kids more recess options. “It’s something different. My daughter said ‘you don’t always know what to play, so with the playscape it’s more stuff to do.’”   Gina Martineau, fifth grade teacher who has two children at the school, said “they are super excited.”   “We’re so grateful for everyone in Bristol and elsewhere that took the time to vote for us,” she said. “We so blessed to have our new playscape.”   Colgate, ShopRite, and TerraCycle, a recycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle waste, ran the online contest last spring, with the grand prize of a colorful new playscape made from recycled materials, with a retail value of $55,000.   People helped out by voting for the school on the contest website, and bringing their used dental products to Mountain View to recycle. The recyclable products included toothbrushes, empty toothpaste containers, floss containers, and dental packaging materials.   Each vote and each unit (defined as 0.02 lbs.) of recyclable waste counted as one Playground Credit. So the school with the most Playground Credits was the winner.   The recycled materials are used to make the playscapes, according to the contest website. These consist of toothpaste tubes and caps, toothbrushes, toothpaste cartons, toothbrush outer packaging, and floss containers, which are shredded and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded into new products.   Susan Corica can be reached at 860-973-1802 or scorica@bristolpress.com.

One of Southington’s elementary schools has been crowned “runner-up” in the TerraCycle recycling challenge out of 62 total teams. Derynoski Elementary School will receive a playground made out of recycled materials that is valued at approximately $25,000.   “Our PTO is very happy to take these first steps to revitalize the play area at Derynoski,” said PTO member Jill Battaglia. “The current playscape is 25-plus years old, and has needed several repairs, so having some new equipment that more kids can play on will be wonderful.”   TerraCycle recycles traditionally “non-recyclable” products such as coffee capsules, pens, or plastic gloves. In the TerraCycle recycling challenge, sponsored by Colgate and ShopRite, schools across the region compete to collect as much oral care waste as possible and send it in to TerraCycle. Items, including toothbrushes, toothbrush packaging, toothpaste tubes and caps, toothpaste packaging, floss containers and floss picks were collected for the challenge. Items could be from any brand.   To create the new playscape, TerraCycle collects all of the donated oral waste products, then separates the tubes and brushes by composition, shredding and melting them into hard plastic that can be remodeled to make new recycled products.   To be successful in this year’s contest, Derynoski Elementary School called on the community to support their efforts by helping with donations of products and by daily voting.   “The community support of this project was incredible, and our school community really appreciates everyone who helped with voting and collecting oral-care waste,” said Battaglia.   During the 2017-18 school year, there were 539 students at Derynoski School. Two sections of classes go out to recess at once, so roughly 180 students are outside at the same time.   While the PTO awaits specific details, they remain hopeful to install the new playscape sometime in the fall.   “We will once again be looking for volunteers to help with installation,” said Battaglia. “We are looking at an area separate from the current playscape, so it gives more play options to the large amount of students playing outside at recess at one time.”   Superintendent of Schools Tim Connellan said the event is a testament to the PTO that showed how much support parents provide schools across the district.   “This was a team effort spearheaded by the Derynoski PTO, but there were contributions from many members of our community, other schools and PTOs in town and staff members,” said Connellan. “In addition to the science and environmental aspects of the project to which our children were exposed, it demonstrated a sense of community and provided a positive example of how people can live and work together for a common goal.”   Derynoski now joins both Flanders and Kelley Elementary Schools in the ranks of contest winners. All three schools have now participated in and won the TerraCycle recycling challenge.   To learn more, visit www.TerraCycle.com.

We liked this week   Flowers showered the statue of the Madonna Della Strada as she was gently lowered on a table so marchers in the Southington Italian-American Festival’s Sunday morning procession could crowd around to pin money to her and pray. After a Mass the procession went through downtown Southington on the final morning of the three-day festival.   After two years on the market, St. Mary Church and school in Meriden have been sold to a local Pentecostal church, while the rectory went to a separate buyer in late May. The Pentecostal Church of God I.M. of Meriden bought the church at 55 Church St. and the school at 97 Grove St. for $275,000 from the Our Lady Queen of Angels parish. Dockside Construction Services bought the rectory for $85,000.   Hiking in 90-degree heat and occasional pouring rain, Chris Ulbrich, CEO of Ulbrich Stainless Steel and Special Metals Inc., hiked a portion of the Appalachian Trail for 25 days to raise money for the Wallingford Emergency Shelter. The “Ulbrich Trek to End Homelessness” campaign set a goal to raise $20,000 and Ulbrich agreed to add $10,000.   A state law imposing a 10-cent charge for plastic bags at supermarket checkouts starting Thursday, for environmental reasons, has prompted two chains to eliminate those bags well ahead of a June 2021 deadline. Stop & Shop and Big Y customers will no longer receive plastic bags at checkout but will have the opportunity to use paper bags or reusable totes instead.   A Southington tax relief committee this week recommended adding a tax deferment program for the elderly, as well as increasing the income limits for another program already in place. If approved by town leaders, the program will provide $250 in tax deferments to homeowners who are disabled or at least 65 years old. The taxes deferred are due to the town when the property is transferred.   An area foundation has donated over $10,000 toward the replacement and refurbishment of four signs located at Cheshire’s Bartlem Park. The town recently accepted a donation of $10,500 from the John G. Martin Foundation to replace the Bartlem Park and Cheshire Community Pool, Parks and Recreation, and Yellow House signs, as well as to repaint the Medal of Honor Plaza sign.   Rogers Orchards in Southington have opened for their 210th season, offering visitors fresh produce like peaches, tomatoes and corn. “All things are looking good here and we’re excited to have another harvest,” co-president Peter Rogers said. Rogers said this summer’s heat and humidity have been good for the crops.   Gov. Ned Lamont has enlisted two top advisers to take a closer look at the management of two quasi-public agencies, the Connecticut Lottery and the Connecticut Port Authority, and determine whether changes are needed. Lamont  said Tuesday he has become increasingly concerned about reports of leadership strife at the lottery. The port authority’s executive director has also been placed on paid administrative leave from the organization.   Gathering loads of toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers and packaging earned Derynoski School in Southington a new playground as part of a recycling company’s national contest run by TerraCycle, a recycling company in New Jersey. The school took second place in the Northeast region contest and won a playground made of recycled materials, worth $25,000.   The Midstate Chamber of Commerce and the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce recently signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an alliance. The partnership is not a merger, but an effort to maintain the local chambers by retaining their boards, presidents and staff while fostering cooperation, said Rosanne Ford, interim president of the Midstate Chamber of Commerce.   A new interagency task force will soon begin work on a plan to minimize the impact of a group of potentially dangerous industrial compounds — PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” — on Connecticut residents. The panel will be led by the commissioners of the departments of Energy and Environmental Protection and Public Health.   Kick For A Cause’s 15th annual women’s soccer tournament started last weekend in Wallingford. The two-day event features teams from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York. This year’s event saw 18 teams, each with 15 players. All proceeds go to Meriden-Wallingford Chrysalis, an organization that provides domestic violence services to those in need.

Students, parents and community members gathered more than 18,000 recyclable items and sent them to TerraCycle, a recycling company in New Jersey. The school took second place in the Northeast region contest and won a playground made of recycled materials worth $25,000.

“We are all so appreciative to have the opportunity afforded to us by TerraCycle, the students have garnered a true understanding of the importance of recycling and the playscape will be a daily reminder to them to continue recycling,” Hawk said. Hawk also said that this contest has brought the entire city together.

Over the course of three months, parents, teachers and students in several states collected recyclable oral care products of every variety in an attempt to win new playground equipment, made from the items gathered through the Colgate and ShopRite Recycled Playground Challenge organized by TerraCycle.

Introducing our first TerraCycle Zero Waste Box! This box is for the disposal of all SMALL plastic or metal bottle caps! These small caps can cause issues with conveyor belts at the recycling plants and are generally trashed if they fall through the machinery. Caps larger than 1.5" can go in regular recycling.

Bristol’s Mountain View School and Southington’s Derynoski Elementary School are in first and second place, respectively, as of Wednesday morning in the Colgate and ShopRite Recycled Playground Challenge through TerraCycle.

Bristol’s Mountain View School and Southington’s Derynoski Elementary School are in first and second place, respectively, as of Wednesday morning in the Colgate and ShopRite Recycled Playground Challenge through TerraCycle.

Battaglia said she is optimistic that Derynoski can win the contest. Kelley Elementary School won second place two years ago and Flanders Elementary School won the grand prize several years ago. Derynoski’s PTO will be collecting materials and voting right through the end of the contest. “We’re going to keep working hard for the kids,” she said. “Hopefully we can get it done for them.” For more information, or to vote, visit https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/contests/colgateshopriteplayground2019. To donate materials, email desptoplay@gmail.com