Slashing the Plastic Trash

Following up on my previous post, it is gratifying to see that Loblaws in Canada has just announced their intent to charge 5c for each plastic bag. This practice will begin on April 22 - Earth Day. Certainly, this is a step in the right direction to slash the plastic trash. This was the first item of waste we chose to tackle in our own lives and after many months of deliberately trying, I think we have finally won the battle of eliminating them from our home. More on the scourge of plastic bags can be found at http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/battleofthebag/

Once you view this documentary you will voluntarily want to give up your consumption of plastic bags.

Other plastic offenders are even more disturbing than the ubiquitous bag and that is plastic water bottles. Why on earth do we need to carry a bottle of water with us everywhere? What in the advertising world convinced us that we had to have access to this pacifier every waking hour?

Whereas plastic bags are just used to transport your food and beverages for short trips from the store to your home, plastic bottles of water sit on shelves for days, weeks, even months containing precious water that is essential for all life. The potential for leachates from from the plastic migrating into the water and then into your body is greater than one might originally consider.

Just imagine, not long ago, bottles with Bisphenol A were used routinely by literally everyone who carried their own refillable bottle. And now low and behold these bottles are considered toxic. Companies have pulled them from the store shelves. This just demonstates that we do not know enough about what plastic does to life to trust that there will be no effect on our children, on ourselves, on other species or on the environment in general.

There is a perfectly healthy and safe alternative to prepackaged water in plastic bottles and that is water from your tap. The tap provides a safe, clean, healthy and cheap source of drinking water. It leaves no waste to be recycled or litter to be picked up. It will eliminate the oil used to manufacture, fill and distribute bottled water.

Your use of bottled water contributes to climate change in the unnecessary burning of fossil fuels. Your use of bottled water contributes to the inequality of the rich and poor by allowing big business to have control of the water in many countries, making it difficult for those in poverty to obtain good, clean, safe, drinking water.
Your use of bottled water contributes to the cost of waste management in our various municipalities which in turn increases your taxes to support that infrastructure.

It always amazes me that we will believe producers who spend millions of dollars on glitzy ads to get us to buy such things as bottled water but we ignore the more than 200 respected scientists worldwide who contributed to the International Panel on Climate Change study. They are telling us that climate change is greatly impacted by human activity especially the burning of fossil fuels. They are telling us we are running out of time. They are asking us to take immediate action to turn the heat of the planet down. Is anyone listening?

Slashing the plastic trash is not as easy as it seems but eliminating plastic bags and plastic water bottles goes a long way to changing habits.