Think for a moment that you’re at the drugstore picking up a few items. Some products you may be loyal to, others you may be trying for the first time. Would the packaging play a role in what you buy at the store? Would you consider buying something in a recyclable container before buying a product with packaging that will go into the garbage?
Maybe you don’t care where it ends up. Maybe you do. Did you know that even if you were to you choose the packaging that says it can be recycled, will most likely end up in a landfill anyway? Surprising, I know! Don’t feel bad, most people don’t know this.
In an effort to be “green” those consumers, conscious of the environment, tend to purchase items with recyclability. Even though you may choose a product based on the “green factor” of its packaging being recyclable, ninety-four percent of recyclable products will end up in a landfill. Turns out your efforts to be “green” are mostly moot.
Recycling is a misnomer. I’m not suggesting that we stop putting items in our green recycling can on recycle day. Six percent of our recyclable items get recycled. I’m suggesting we take a closer look at where our products and its packaging are ending up.
What if you are the person who doesn’t care where the packaging goes? You throw it in the garbage and it magically disappears when that big truck stops in front of your house once a week and dumps all your problems. Not your garbage anymore, but it’s still your problem. How can it still be my problem you ask? Because you, along with me, along with billions of other people live on this earth. And what we do to our planet affects us all.
And for you do-gooders who buy “green” and recycle everything, nice effort! But, most recycling facilities are very picky about what they recycle. Do you know what happens to the material they don’t recycle? Yep, it ends up in a land fill.
Ultimately, a land fill seems to be the final resting place for most of our products’ packaging. Landfills that are quickly filling to capacity. Landfills that are full of packaging that will sit under the dirt for hundreds of years. It won’t be our problem by then, but it’s a problem we’re causing for the future. It’s a good thing if you’re wondering if there are any solutions to this environmental issue.
Biodegradable plastic is the solution. An additive added to the plastic manufacturing process that will allow the plastic to biodegrade when placed into a land fill. The plastic that is not recycled can now be discarded without worry that it will affect the environment.
Going “green”, as a consumer, is an end result not a purchasing result; unless what you’re purchasing will end “green”. Don’t be an environmental honey badger. Care enough to know where your products and its packaging are ending up.
‘m suffering from “Blue Barrel Anxiety,” and so are a lot of other people around the country. What is BBA you ask? Think of it like this. You are cleaning up after a family picnic, the table is covered with paper plates, an empty pickle jar, a plastic mustard container and lots of other things made from plastic and paper…lots of other things. If you have ever wondered, does this go in the trash or recycle bin, then you have experienced what millions of us have, the dreaded BBA, “Blue Barrel Anxiety.”
I’d even gotten a letter from my trash collection company warning me that I was about to lose my Blue Barrel privileges. Don’t be disheartened, I’ve discovered the cure for BBA. It turns out that by educating oneself, BBA can be reduced and more importantly for me, no more letters.
It turns out that U.S. Recyclers are very picky about what they want and are only willing to spend the time, labor and money on items that can easily and quickly be captured from the recycle stream. In other countries recycling has taken on a whole new meaning. I recently read about another country where even a tennis shoe is dismantled for the metal, leather and rubber. Is that cost effective? Probably not, but those countries are coming closer to a sustainable life style than we are. The tour was an eye opener and it got me to questioning if there was any real value to recycling here in the U.S., or was it all just a way to make money, appearing to be environmental?