Riverkeeper aims to make point with plastics

The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency appears poised to provide plastics to Riverkeeper for a giant ball the environmental group hopes to use in a recycling awareness campaign.

Agency attorney Kenneth Gilligan said the use of the plastics does not violate any procurement policies.

“This is basically awareness of the environment ... and if you really want to get technical, they can give us back the plastic,” Gilligan said.

Riverkeeper is seeking to create a 6-foot-high plastic ball to roll down Broadway in Kingston as part of a Sewershed Tour during the upcoming O+ Festival.

The 10th annual festival is scheduled for Oct. 11-13 at various venues in the city.

Riverkeeper’s community science coordinator, Sebastian Pillitteri, first pitched the Resource Recovery Agency last month, saying the group’s effort will highlight objects that are washed into the city sewer lines.

Riverkeeper plans to work with SUNY New Paltz art students to create the plastic ball.

“The plastic will be used to construct a giant ball representing the plastics which we discard to be washed into the river, which participants will push along the route of the [Hasbrouck sewershed] system as we move from Foxhall and Broadway down to the Rondout [Creek], learning about the impacts of plastic pollution, proper recycling practices for Ulster County and ... the path of sewage to the Rondout,” Riverkeeper said in a written statement.