Columnists
It’s not easy being green
I recently overheard a person complain about those individuals and businesses that are trying to eliminate singleuse plastic straws from their lives and their businesses. Her problem, which I’ve heard before, was there are so many other problems in the world that straw-shunning won’t fix. True, there are a lot of other problems. But singleuse plastics are a problem, and how easy is it to solve that problem? And it is a problem. No more plastic straws! And, for some of us, the plastic-straw scenario makes you think about what really happens to single-use plastics when they have been used, singly. You can put them into the recycling bin, at home or at the restaurant, but the chance of that kind of plastic being recycled is slim. As slim as the straw. Let’s face it, recycling bins make you feel good when you use them. Recycling bins are like a plenary indulgence—soul cleansing. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use them— recycling bins—but I am saying we should be working to make them almost unnecessary.
In the UK, garbage trucks have the words “I wish I were a recycling truck” (or something to that effect) painted on the side. I’m not sure if the words have much impact on the amount of garbage Londoners kick to the curb each day, but the idea is a good one. However, my point is, we can do a whole lot better than we do right now. On Sunday, while at a local grocery store, I couldn’t help but notice the centre of one entire aisle was devoted to dozens of cases of single-use bottled water! It was a horrific vision. I was shocked, and stopped in my tracks watching as several shoppers loaded their carts with cases of bottled water. We know better—and I do understand that some properties, especially seasonal properties, do not have safe drinking water. However, there is a better way to handle those situations, refillable, pump-top containers comes to mind. Yeah, they’re bulking and heavy and you have to bring the bottle back. Seriously, think about the impact singleuse bottles have on the environment. And I do understand the retailer who is afraid to get out of the lucrative, single-use bottled water business. The thinking being, “If we don’t do it, someone else will.” It’s time for retailers to smarten up, step up, and show up to the game.
Did you know 57 million plastic straws are used each day in Canada? Do the math. Per annum, that number isn’t insignificant. In Ontario one billion single-use, plastic water bottles are sent to landfills each year. Only 14 per cent of those bottles are actually recycled, although big commercial bottlers would like you to believe otherwise and shamelessly say the number is around 75 per cent. Again, do the math. Interestingly enough, while tap water is strictly regulated by Health Canada and by the provinces and territories, bottled water is not. So there’s no guarantee that your single use bottled water is as pure and you think it is. You might be better off taking your chances with tap water. Independent researchers have tested single-use, bottled-in-plastic water and found that 93 per cent of the water tested contained microplastics, including polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon and PET. And here’s something to wet your whistle. It takes three times the water to make the plastic bottle as it does to fill it. And one gallon of bottled water costs about 2,000 times more than the cost of a gallon of tap water, even County tap water.
So, stop the carping about the elimination of single-use plastics—straws, bags, bottles, etc. It’s something you can do and feel good about. You could even brag about it between sips of tap water from your refillable container that you’ve been carrying around in your canvas, reusable grocery sack.
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