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OPINIONS
April 25, 2019 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
An "Earth Day" reflection:
Are we drowning in
plastics?
Have you noticed how much of what we eat and drink these days comes in plastic containers?
We've been collecting recyclables in a covered garbage "can" in our garage for years now, carrying it over to Smithfield's Public Works Garage on Hospital Road whenever it's full. With only the two of us in our "empty nest," you'd think it would take much longer than a week or so to fill up that fairly large receptacle in the garage.
But that's all the time it takes nowadays. The "culprit" appears to be an ever-increasing volume of throwaway plastics that have overtaken glass bottles and aluminum cans as the food and beverage holder of choice.
What's worse: There's no assurance all that stuff is actually being recycled as we had hoped when we undertook this "civic duty" years ago. Plastics, especially, may be going to waste because of a worldwide glut in the recyclables marketplace.
We've got to start using "biodegradable" alternatives to petroleum-based plastics. Paper or plastic? I'll take paper every time because it decomposes after it's thrown away, and can be replaced by simply growing more trees. That makes paper, unlike plastic, a "renewable resource."
Another remedy is to carry things home from the store without a bag of any sort. Perhaps that's not practical at the grocery store, but it's worth a try with small, easy-to-handle items from the hardware store or the pharmacy.
I saw several stories related to this year's observance of "Earth Day" this past Monday about the proliferation of plastics pollution worldwide, especially in our oceans. Add that to global warming and it's alarming what's happening to life in the seas that cover most of the Earth's surface.
It's sad we've gotten away from the original Earth Day movement of the 1970s, when it appeared our society was going to put a stop to the material wastefulness that threatens our very existence.
A more productive way to
recycle?
I was struck by the advice given the County Commissioners earlier this month to make the extra effort to separate recyclable materials as a cost-saving measure.
Mike Buzard, who operates a Smithfield-based recycling business, warned commissioners that the county will continue to pay more and more to have unsorted materials hauled away when there's revenue to be gained by sorting recyclables to sell on the open market.
If Johnston County doesn't join this "green" movement, he predicted, we'll likely find ourselves paying other counties to take our bottles and cans and such because they're willing to sort through the stuff to earn some money rather than spend more money to get rid of it.
Makes sense to me.
Won't you join the
conversation?
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