Recycling and sustainable living efforts continue to bump up against our throw-away society, but sometimes it’s hard to know if we are making a dent in the nation’s garbage dumps.
Facts and figures, such as: In 2005, U.S. residents, businesses and institutions produced more than 245 million tons of solid waste, which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day, don’t really register in our consciousness. Not the way, say, the price of gasoline does.
And that’s the garbage that makes it to landfills. Pollution, particularly plastics, has been threatening the health of our oceans and wildlife for decades. Only 3.5 percent of plastics are recycled in any way throughout the world. Plastic debris, which do not biodegrade, cause widespread mortality of marine wildlife, according to marine researchers.
According to a 2005 PBS report, a disposable diaper takes an estimated 500 years to break down, while plastic 6-pack rings for cans take 400 years and a plastic water bottle can take up to 450 years to degrade. However, this does not mean they will disappear. All remain as plastic polymers and eventually yield individual molecules of plastic too tough for any organism to digest.
Plastic never goes away. It’s much cheaper to create new plastic than to recycle it in any useful way.
Consumers have a choice. We can choose to try to use only “essential” plastics, say a hip replacement, but not the plastic bag at the grocery store. There’s no denying how plastics have made our life easier and more convenient. But evidence is piling up like plastic about how it harms the environment and it is increasingly suspected as a major agent in human ills, from cancer to infertility.
Which is why it’s hard to believe that new, extremely non-essential plastic products keep being “invented” and pitched to the American public. Take, for example, the currently heavily advertised “Glad® SimplyCooking™ Microwave Steaming Bags.”
Now you “can have crisp, tender veggies without the pots and pans — no more waiting for water to boil or clean up.” Yes, that endless wait for the water to boil is going to be the ruin of society as we know it. Isn’t that why they invented microwaves in the first place? And “no more clean up.” Indeed, as every kitchen crew knows, those dirty pots and pans from steaming vegetables are just so difficult to clean up.
According to Glad, “With new Glad® SimplyCooking™ Microwave Steaming Bags getting healthy, great tasting food to the table takes just minutes. Use it for veggies and much more.” Using a microwave-safe ceramic dish accomplishes the same thing, without throwing plastic into the trash.
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