In October, the IBS’s trash can liner plant in Lolita, TX, coordinated with the Inteplast BOPP Films in Morristown, TN, to donate 14 pallets of garbage bags to support post-Hurricane Helene cleanup efforts.  Due to the extensive nature of post-disaster cleanups, the 131,712 industrial-strength bags are still being distributed and used for residential, commercial, and environmental restoration efforts in TN, FL, NC, and SC.

After Helene made landfall, Dana Brandon, purchasing and logistics manager at BOPP Films in Morristown, TN, noticed a social media post from the First Baptist Church. The church was collecting items to assist in cleanup efforts to clear wreckage from the hurricane that ravaged parts of the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States. Brandon requested assistance from the IBS plant, located at the Inteplast Group flagship site in Lolita.

In less than 24 hours, the bags arrived in Morristown from Lolita, TX. From there, staff from God’s Warehouse, a disaster relief distribution center in the same network as the First Baptist Church in Morristown, picked up the donations.

Don Owen, director of God’s Warehouse, confirmed that the bags were divided and shipped to five counties in upper eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and northern Florida.  

“Thank you on behalf of God’s Warehouse Ministries and those who received and benefited from your great generosity. Your donation helped a lot of people clear debris from their homes and gave them storage opportunities for items that they felt were salvageable. This was a huge blessing,” Owen said.

Mid-December, God’s Warehouse is still supporting and facilitating restoration. Five days a week, about 100 volunteers assist in running operations to provide families with food, construction materials, debris removal assistance, and cleaning products for biohazard waste and accumulated garbage in common spaces where displaced residents live.

The industrial strength of the bags also made a difference, Owen added. “[Inteplast’s] donation was a prize to those receiving it because of the quality compared to home type products.” Garbage bags used for household tasks are often less dense than the thicker, heavy-duty bags employed in post-disaster, construction, landscaping, or other similar projects. 

Phyllis Creasey, a volunteer at God’s Warehouse, said that post-disaster cleanup is ongoing. “There are still people sleeping in tents because their homes were washed away. So many are affected. We are very busy here,” said Creasey.

Prior to the donation from Inteplast God’s Warehouse had only received four boxes of trash bags for mud-out teams, said Brandon. “God’s Warehouse prepares trucks with supplies for the Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief Incident Command Center. The center sends certified mud-out teams to the areas to help clean the homes and remove the mud and debris.”

Greg Gillis, senior director of operations at BOPP Films, said the expedited shipment of the bags to Morristown and the BOPP Films plant in Gray Court, SC was “amazing.”

“I am very appreciative of the efforts of our employees in Lolita, Morristown, and Gray Court for facilitating this essential relief effort between our IBS Division and local charities in the hurricane-ravaged southeast. The speed at which this grew from a couple of emails to a truck showing up at God’s Warehouse, fully loaded with trash bags, was astounding and made me proud to be a part of this company,” Gillis explained.

Some resources not necessarily provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are donated to God’s Warehouse, which then rations them to many on a rolling basis. Therefore, the Inteplast trash bags that were donated may have been used by a local small business, other volunteer groups, families, or individuals who are trying desperately to maintain some normalcy by keeping the grounds in which they live and work safe and free of waste or hazardous items. 

Just a few days after the trash bag donation to Morristown, TN, and Gray Court, SC, Inteplast Group also sent gloves from the IBS Division to Tennessee for disaster-relief-related tasks. 

About Inteplast Group 

Established in 1991, Inteplast Group is a leading integrated plastics and paper manufacturer founded on the ideal of American manufacturing. Our products support diverse markets including healthcare, foodservice, packaging, building products, grocery, retail, sanitation, industrial, and graphic arts industries. Headquartered in Livingston, N.J., Inteplast Group is now more than 8,000 employees strong and operates more than 55 facilities including our flagship manufacturing complex in Lolita, Texas. Our dedicated and experienced people are committed to delivering quality products and partnering with our customers to enable their success. Visit http://www.inteplast.com for more information.