By Steve Davies, Healthy Planet Columnist
I have to say, when I read a while ago about how China stopped taking items like plastic from the United States to recycle them a couple of years ago, it made me wonder “where does all our plastic that we use to recycle go now”. I mean, I still see containers for recycling plastic.
I know back in my day, when they talked about recycling plastic, they also talked about what companies use recycled plastic for the containers they use for their products. I have to say that, that’s talk I no longer hear. I also don’t even know if I see companies state on their products anymore how much recycled plastic is in their containers. This in turn, leads me to ask the basic question, so why are we recycling plastic?
I mean, I know why we recycle but, if it’s not helping us in making a difference, then what’s the next step? What we’re doing is trying to save the planet, so maybe we should begin to ask some of those important questions again, like why don’t companies use recycled plastic in making things like the bottles they use for their products. I also think consumers need to start demanding that these companies use recycled plastic or tell them that they’ll use the products by companies that do.
I’ve also recently started to hear about some cities that are going to only recycle items like cardboard in the future as one of the few things that they apparently make money. Like the public, I think cities can make a difference too. Money shouldn’t be the only reason to recycle. There was no one more devoted to recycling in the city of Kirkwood than Francis Scheidegger who served on the Kirkwood City Council from 1964 to 1992.
For those of you who would like to know why and what can be done, let me know. I’ve already talked to a couple of people about this. Now I think companies need to hear from us. We also need to find out if there are still places that recycle plastic. I think we should also ask our local municipalities as to how we can work together. After all, it’s our planet. I’m not giving up.
For questions about Recycling please email me at thprecycler@yahoo.com