Plastic packaging is a serious global problem. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) says that 300 millions tons of plastic are produced annually—"nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population"—and half of that is for single-use items. A vast majority (91%) does not get recycled (because recycling is largely a myth), but rather ends up in landfills or the natural environment.
Lindwall, Courtney. "Single-Use Plastics 101." National Resources Defense Council.
So I'm among those wanting to see a movement in my town to limit single-use plastics. We're calling it Zero Plastic Black Mountain.
I may have mentioned this before, when my friend Linda Tatspaugh shared about this new movement, in conjunction with Asheville's Zero Plastic aim, and our county, Buncombe County's efforts. The three civic organizations have yet to make any progress at this time, These are efforts to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco and New York City which recently banned the use of plastic shopping bags.
In another community they have to pay ten cents to purchase a plastic bag at the grocery store. One grocery here will sell reusable cloth tote bags, and others offer paper bags.
Many of us voluntarily have stopped bringing home plastic grocery bags...carrying our own tote bags back and forth. I still use the plastic bags I already have as trash can liners. And I unfortunately have a rule at my apartment complex to use a plastic garbage bag for all my garbage, and a blue garbage bag for my recyclable items, which are only collected every 2 weeks.
But the Zero Plastic Black Mountain movement told me the believable sad truth. We all are suffering from the micro plastics in the air and water and food we eat...to the extent that we consume a credit card's worth of plastic each week of our lives.
Let's see if we can't do something about this.
