Thank you to all of the volunteers and ACF team members who came out to help us plant Fran’s Fearless Forest as part of the NHC Landfill’s rehabilitation project and the Trees for Trash Program created by Plastic Ocean Project (POP). In partnership with Alliance for Cape Fear Trees and POP, we planted 75 trees on a gorgeous Sunday in November - swamp oaks, live oaks, white oaks and cypress grown at Penderlea Farms. And thanks to the amazing Joe Suleyman (seriously, this man is incredible - Director of Recycling & Solid Waste at NHC Landfill) the plants were all composted with compost collected and prepared onsite at the landfill, and watered thoroughly.

Plastic Ocean Project, through its Trees for Trash initiative, has long partnered with the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees, assigning volunteers to pick up trash at ACFT tree planting sites. For every 25 lbs. of trash collected, POP commits to planting one tree—“replacing what doesn’t belong in the environment with what does,” according to POP Founder Bonnie Monteleone. In 2019, POP established Frans Forest at the county landfill, planting some 2,000 trees in various clearings to enhance air and water quality and the natural habitat.

This marked the second partnership between Audi Cape Fear and the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees. In 2021, ACFT planted 50 trees along Racine Drive near the dealership to diminish the urban heat island effect and address stormwater management. 

 “Audi Cape Fear was extremely excited and proud to partner with the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees and Plastic Ocean Project…We couldn’t have been more thrilled to help bring the Fearless Forest to life,” Chris Bucknell, General Manager at Audi Cape Fear.