Local Spotlight: Cheryl Gray

Cheryl Gray is cheerful, upbeat and likes to kid around.

But she’s dead serious about recycling.

“Every day is Earth Day. That’s what you have to think: one thing at a time,” Gray said during a recent interview.

Or, in her case, one pound at a time.

Gray has been collecting recyclable plastic since Aug. 1, when she enrolled the Dyer Library in Saco, where she is employed as a Children’s Room associate, in the NexTrex Recycling Challenge. For every 1,000 pounds of plastic film collected, organizations receive a high-performance composite bench.

The deadline to hit the target is one year. Gray collected 1,000 pounds in just three months.

Those who know her are probably not surprised about Gray’s enthusiasm for the project. “Everyone harasses me about being the Nazi recycler,” she said with a chuckle. “I pick stuff out of the trash; I recycle as much as I can. I compost and collect returnables.”

Gray shares her Saco home with her husband Kyle, whom she met in Arizona while earning an associate’s degree from Mesa Community College. The mother of two adult children and grandmother of one calls herself “a lifelong learner who “switched majors 100 times.”

Gray originally studied early childhood education, and, after working for phone companies for 17 years, landed in the Children’s Room at Dyer Library 10 years ago.

The NexTrex initiative started when Sophie Smith, executive director of Dyer Library and Saco Museum, “saw me being obnoxious about the book wrap plastic,” said Gray.

Smith, in her previous job at York Library, did a lot of work with the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, which focuses on examining goals and intentions. Smith learned about the NexTrex Program at an SLI workshop. Although York Library did not participate, she thought it would be a good project for Gray, telling her, “Take it and see what you can do with it.”

Gray has taken the program and has run with it.

“We started thinking, who else could benefit from a bench?” she said.

In November she began accepting recycled materials for Saco Main Street and, in five weeks, had enough for a second bench. The third round to benefit First Parish Congregational Church of Saco was completed in six weeks in January and February. Collecting for the fourth bench, to benefit her sister’s day care, Little Wonders in Saco, began the week of Feb. 16. As of Feb. 25, 100 pounds had already been collected.

“The fifth is already lined up with Saco Bay Variety,” Gray said. The connection is her cousin, who is married to the owner’s brother.

“He’s (Sonny) saving all his bread bags for me” at the Beach Street location, she added.

Everyone that receives a bench has a bin at their own place, Gray said.

But judging by the huge bags of bags patrons bring to 371 Main St., Dyer Library is the plastic recycling center of the city. A large white (plastic) box in the entryway is the repository for donations, and Gray can often be seen briskly walking through the lobby to the Children’s Room with the recyclable materials.

In addition to the many local donors, one couple comes all the way from Shapleigh to drop off their plastic. Gray’s daughter's boyfriend brings her a bag every time he visits from Massachusetts.

“It’s truly amazing how much it’s taken off,” Smith said.

“People are happy that somebody’s doing something,” Gray said. “They’re so excited they’re telling other people and it’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Dyer Library will expand its community outreach on March 25, when Ecomaine presents information about recycling in general. Saco Parks and Recreation will discuss composting and Gray will talk about recycling plastic in particular.

The library’s new, forest green bench will hopefully find its forever home this spring as the focus of a new outdoor reading garden and patio, according to Smith and Gray. For now, it’s waiting out the winter in the Deering Room.

When asked how long she plans to keep spearheading the project, Gray replied, “I’m going to keep going. My goal at first I thought was one a year.

“I’m gonna get more.”

Ann Fisher is a freelance journalist based in Saco. She can be reached at 432-7483.