Scuttlebutt: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?
As I sit here staring out the window at the quiet and windless downpour outside, I am contemplating reading the online discussion of the Udall-Levinson Plastics Draft. The other option is a paper on how the circular economy tackles climate change. Believe or not, these subjects are of interest to me. Besides, I have to come up with a column soon and I have to actually care about something before I can muster the wherewith-all to bang out another column.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
What we do about plastics is a major question humanity needs to answer. I have written about that issue before and I do want to keep somewhat current on the policies and politics of plastics production, use, and disposal. I think everyone should, but I am not naive enough to think that many people give more than a passing thought to the subject. If you are still reading this you have probably already reached your quota for today.
Would you find it weird if I told you that the idea of reading about putting together climate mitigation with the circular economy excites me? I know, but that's why you don't have to write this column.
It should seem obvious that one of the ways to slow climate change is to quit wasting natural resources. After all, it is our exploitation of the biosphere that has caused it's climate to change. Isn't it nice to imagine that humanity could live off the natural resources of our planet without destroying them?
Some feel that it will take a mass extinction of humans to return a balance to nature and that human nature is antithetical to living in harmony with Mother Nature.
If that is true then we are all seriously screwed, but I don't choose to believe that. I do believe that we need to limit the human population. We have to get a handle on how to live on this planet with the number of people already onboard and it seems the rate of growth may be slowing, at least in so-called “advanced” countries,
I don't know if humanity will survive or not and in the long run I don't really care. Somehow I care more about the plant and animal life than I do about humanity. I don't mean individual humans, most of them are all right, but as a species, we have been very destructive, which is probably why some people feel a mass extinction would be appropriate.
The reason I remain an optimist is that it is a lot more fun. Going around with your head down is even worse than going around with your head in the clouds.
I love the challenge of finding ways to by-pass the system and get what I need without being a mindless consumer. I believe that I can navigate in and around the consumer culture while still being much less destructive of the environment.
Of course, many of you know the joy of repurposing something instead of throwing it away or of finding a solution to something that does not require buying anything. As frequent readers know, I am a freak for recycling. I get a kick out of figuring out ways to recycle something that otherwise would get landfilled.
For example, metal bottle caps are too small to make it through most recycling systems, but if you half-fill a metal can that you do recycle, then crush the top closed so that the caps can't come out, they will get melted down and made into another Toyota.
Some of you may find this silly—and maybe you are right, but as it has been said, “The Revolution Begins at Home”. I know it is so easy and natural to think that your individual acts have no practical effect on the condition of the world. Whether you are doing something to enhance the environment or degrade it, it is easy to imagine that you are having no significant effect. That makes us think that our transgressions are so minor that it doesn't matter. It also discourages us from thinking about making a positive step because that single effort too, doesn't seem to make a difference.
That's a tough one to get past, but mass movements consist of many, many individual efforts. An obvious example of this is voting. It is easy to believe that my single vote out of over 100 million cast in a presidential election is totally meaningless, yet if everyone felt that way and didn't vote, we wouldn't have elections.
I opted for the circular economy/climate change one, but there were no startling revelations there. We simply need to be more responsible in how we use the natural resources of our planetary home.
The paper consisted mainly of examples of efforts to reduce waste. The well-known motto “reduce, reuse, recycle” has had much too much emphasis on the “recycle” aspect, when that is actually the least desirable of the three choices. I guess getting people to change their garbage disposal habits was easier than trying to turn around the whole consumer culture. Wall Street and Madison Avenue have taken enormous power and influence over the living habits of Americans—and the planet.
Nevertheless, positive action is taking place. TerraCycle is a Trenton, New Jersey-based company that made a name for itself by turning hard-to-recycle waste (think juice boxes, coffee capsules, plastic gloves and cigarette filters) into new products. They have launched a new entity called Loop. Dozens of brands, from Tide to Pantene to Colgate, are partnering with Loop, a global, online shopping platform that uses a closed-loop system for product delivery. Loop, which will ramp beyond its initial markets during 2020, provides products to consumers in durable containers that can be reused multiple times and is driving companies to invest in such high-value packaging.
Though this is an online business model, Loop plans to move into brick and mortar stores. Furthermore, Austin, Denver, New York, and some European cities already have zero waste grocery stores.
There is also a movement toward Producer Responsibility Laws that will greatly accelerate the reduction in packaging waste. Why should consumers be responsible for something they had no voice in designing, producing or acquiring?
It is really nice that options are becoming available for consumers, but the rubber hits the road when we each have to make the daily, even hourly, decisions about how we wish to live.
