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home, inspiration, life, oceans, planet, plastic, pollution, Single Stream Recycling
When I see videos like this:
And this:
And this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ij0CKuwei4
I cannot rest. Plastics continue to pollute our oceans. Human ambivalence is choking ocean life. Without healthy oceans and the creatures that live within, WE are toast — well done on both sides toast.
I began recycling in the early 1990’s when I lived in a condo in Arlington, Virginia. Just six of us residents at the condo designed the first curbside recycling program in Arlington. Working with our local/traditional waste hauler we succeeded to educate the area participants and this hauler soon became a millionaire as this recycling program gained traction.
Back then most people mindlessly tossed human-generated waste into the weekly bin and never gave it another thought. In 2008, I watched a PBS documentary entitled Carrier and was horrified to see what just one aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz (CVN68), was dumping into the ocean. These floating warships carry 6,000 + crew, sixty jets, and are deployed for months at a time. (This multi-series film is available online.)
In response to my 2008 concerns/letter, a Rear Admiral US Navy Director of Environmental Readiness replied with a two page document assuring me that many recyclables are merely shredded, placed into burlap bags, and discharged into the sea. This statement alone is one version, yet recorded in the documentary, aluminum cans (one example) and food waste were just dumped directly into the sea. The Rear Admiral concluded…”These bags sink to the bottom of the sea and are slowly assimilated into the environment without harm.” Right.
Today, over a decade later, there are few fingers pointing at the environmental damage being done to our oceans by seagoing vessels of any kind. Just think how many ships are on our oceans at any one time. Can you guess?
Additionally, laws to restrict fishing gear are slow to protect our large mammals who suffer a slow death at sea from entanglements. Just search online to view these horror stories.
Landlubbers and third world countries are casting waste into waterways without conscience. Are you with me on this?
OK, so in 2020 how can we, as individuals, do better with our consumption and waste?
This is what I do already:
- I do not hire a single stream waste hauler. Since 1/3 of household waste is kitchen based (and compostable), I place all my organic kitchen waste into compostable bags (supplied by the recycling center), and drop off weekly to our local recycling center. Later, along with ground up Christmas trees, this compost is offered back to the community.
If you think about your garbage, wet kitchen waste contaminates dry recyclables (cardboard and pasteboard) and both wind up in the landfill. If you have room to compost your kitchen waste at home (for your gardens), there is plenty of info online. If your waste hauler offers a separate bin for kitchen waste/compostables, sign up. - My community (150K population) has one designated location with large bins for source separation/recycling: Two for different plastics, and the others are for cardboard, pasteboard (cereal boxes) and mail slicks, office paper, glass, oyster shells (for repopulating the Chesapeake), mixed metals, newsprint, and aluminum cans. Christmas trees are also collected and shredded into mulch for residents. See my blog post on that topic here…https://dianelasauce.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/the-little-recycling-center-that-could/
- Recently our plastics collection changed, excluding ALL plastics above #2. Therefore all those yogurt/butter/spread/single serve/you-name-it containers now ALL GO TO A LANDFILL AND TAKE THIS LONG TO BIODEGRADE: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033
- Even black tinted #2 plastics are rejected. So all those pretty meat packages at grocery stores, yup, head to the dump around here. I wrote to Jeff Bezos to let him know, hoping WFM will discontinue the use of black #2 packaging. Amazon’s reply was that “regional” was informed. I will follow up.
- AMZN does have a link (Amazon Second Chance) on their site as to where we can recycle packaging. This is a good thing, but it takes commitment to source separate your waste. Single Stream curbside “recycling” is totally inefficient as most goes to a landfill. Really!
In larger metropolitan areas around the world, there are waste-to-energy facilities where most/all waste is incinerated. Here is a link…https://www.prescouter.com/2017/10/waste-to-energy-technologies-available/
So if you do have a way to dispose of your waste by source separation in lieu of single stream, please make an effort. Source separation is highly more efficient and this effort can be a teaching moment for your children. Our trash does not simply “vanish” at curbside.
How we shop and handle our waste has consequences.
AS of 2020 I decided NOT to buy any food/dairy in single use plastic containers or any container that cannot be recycled. (I now cringe when I see walls of dairy in stores…all in non-recyclable plastic!) This also includes single-use, plates, utensils, produce bags…the list goes on infinitum.
Why not make your own yogurt/cottage/cream cheeses and give up those products packaged in plastic? Glass makes a great storage container and they are all the rage now with secure, reusable BPA free lids.
Please be aware that plastic straws and balloons are both toxic to the environment and wildlife. Many marine mammals and shore birds suffer horribly from straws and entanglement from both the actual balloon and cords. When balloons are ingested, the sea life can no longer dive.
Take action: Please insist that your coffee shops discontinue use of PLASTIC straws…and forego those balloon releases…this act simply releases garbage into the air, rivers, and oceans causing havoc worldwide. Carry your own reusable coffee mugs to your barista.
This year I will continue to use both cloth/reusable produce bags and cloth totes every time I shop.
This company thoughtfully included the TARE on each bag label. A very good thing. I found this product at TJMaxx… decided not to go the nylon route, and opted for organic, washable cotton AND the company is right here in Virginia. Check them out at www.organiccottonmart.com
If you do nothing else this year, discontinue using plastic grocery bags of any kind. Ask your local grocer to stop offering them. OR boycott all stores who use plastic bags. I will continue dialogue with markets like WFM, Trader Joe’s, and monster retailers like Kroger and Walmart. You too can make a difference…
Wow, have I lost you yet?
Since we are on the topic of water…water is a nonrenewable resource. If you read the links above, you can see first hand what is going on in our oceans and rivers.
When it comes to home keeping, we can make a huge difference by not wasting/polluting potable water. Try these:
- Do not leave faucets/hoses running.
- Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth and while soaping up in the shower.
- Collect cold water in the shower (as it turns to hot) in a bucket and use this to water your garden or houseplants.
- Fix any leaky faucets/toilets.
- Collect gray water from the kitchen and use it in the lawn/garden.
- Do not put any medications down the toilet or drain. Many local pharmacies take back unused RX or OTC medications for free.
- Do only large batches of laundry. Hand washing small items can be fast and water efficient if done rarely.
- Use EWG.org approved soaps, detergents and cosmetics.
IF we all commit make small changes to our busy lives, both we, our families, and our planet will benefit.
Your thoughts are appreciated in the comments section. As mentioned previously, I do not profit from mentioning sites or links.
Has this post inspired you to make changes? IF so, please share this post and inspire your friends to make changes too.
This blog is intended solely for education and inspirational purposes.
Copyright © 2020 by Diane LaSauce All Rights Reserved
home, garden, life 
Great information. There is much we can do.
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You of all people know these facts for sure. Is there hope? Diane
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All great info! Thanks for sharing.
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Sent via email from a local solid waste official:
Diane,
Thanks for including me. You really are going at right at one of the big issues of the day! I don’t know if it is just a result of the dreary, “wet dog” day, or if it’s just the enormity of the problem but I’m fighting to not get a bit depressed with the subject of PLASTIC.
I have read that we (in the US) recycle only 25% of the plastics we produce. Globally, the number is 9%. Globally we produce 300 million tons of it a year. By 2025 or 2030 global plastic production is expected to increase by 30% (I can’t find the government article again where I read that recently). Then there are all the visible effects shown on your videos. Ready to jump off the bridge with me yet? It certainly seems like a dark, dire future.
Part of me then shrugs off the dreary, depressing, negativity and recognizes that there is meaningful value in small steps. We didn’t get into this situation (in MY opinion) because Dow Chemical, Exxonmobil, BASF, and others made plastic resins. We got into this situation because we (actual individual humans on this planet) bought the products that were offered made from those plastics. So we, can do differently if we want to. We don’t have to wait for the governments to do it. We can just do some simple things. We can drive the car we have another year, even though it’s kind of boring and doesn’t have all the cool new gadgets. We can keep the TV we have for another year instead of upgrading to the new 60 inch, 4000k, UHD, curved screen (I’m making this up now I think) new one that would be really cool. We can make a salad for lunch rather than buy one. We can eat boring leftovers in Tupperware rather than get take out for lunch. I can fill up my thermos bottle rather than get a bottle of water.
This sounds almost a bit depressing, like I’m having to make all these sacrifices and my resulting existence will be much more grey and dull. But really all I’m talking about is less consumption. We (the world) got sold on the idea after the 2nd World War that it was good to shake off those earlier hardships (two wars, a global depression) and go out and buy stuff. Anything. The more the better. And it kind of worked (in the short term). Global wealth increased. Global health increased. Global prosperity increased. All underpinned by consumption (and fossil fuels if you want to go one level deeper). We just didn’t realize that there was going to be a cost associated with that.
So this is what I do, I try to be extra vigilant at home and work to recycle appropriately. For me, this means that I am starting to take all my materials to McIntire rather than use the curbside recycling I have available (I’m a Charlottesville resident). I try to pick up litter when I walk my dog. Professionally, I’m trying to optimize the materials that we collect so that they can be used for their “highest” purpose (e.g., glass goes back into glass containers, plastics go back into plastic products, our fiber materials go back to the highest level materials we can return it to). I’m not saving the world I know. Maybe I can make one little patch on Locust Avenue a little better.
Anyway, I’m ranting I guess. I’ll leave with this. I just did a tour with some 12 YO home school girls out at the Ivy Transfer Station. They watched the materials being dumped on the tipping floor and watched as the big equipment mashed it down and pushed it into trailers to go to the landfill. We talked about all this waste and you could see that they were getting a bit down in the dumps (no pun intended). I didn’t want them to leave feeling that way and so we talked about what they could do to change things and how we might we able to set up a different dynamic. You could see the inherent youthful optimism start to reassert itself as they started to talk out solutions. It was a bit infectious to be honest. I think I’m going to hold onto that. Do the, however small, things I can each day, and hold out for the optimism that people will individually do better, especially the young ones.
Thanks again for sharing.
Phil
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