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Earth Day 2018
Apr. 22nd, 2018 09:43 amThis year’s theme is ‘plastic bad’ which could be the theme every year but considering some of those floating garbage island in the oceans, I think we need to pay attention now.
I live in Suffolk County which, as of January 1st 2018, has a pay a nickel per bag (that's both plastic and paper so if you like to put plastic in paper it will be a dime) or bring your own. There are a few exceptions to the rule which is summed up as ‘wet exemptions’ like the fish store and the butcher do not charge when you buy ‘wet’ food. So when you go to your local Barnes and Nobel, you either carry your books out in your arms or a bag you brought in or you pay .05 per bag used.
I have no problem with this and have certain bags for certain stores that I have tucked away in my car. In fact I haven’t used plastic from the grocery story in years with the exceptions of a few quick trips and even then I tend to walk out with the items un-bagged.
We use re-usable water bottles around the house and at conventions. Caroline’s school has water fountains that allow you to easily refill your water bottle. I am seeing those types of water fountains in many more places.
We don’t bag our comics (Yes, I just heard the horrific gasp by some collectors). Caroline uses backing boards as paper for her drawings at conventions.
We recycle all the types of plastics we can. The only thing that can be tricky is finding somewhere to take the plastic bags that do happen to wander in the house. Recently most of the grocery stores have put barrels where you can recycle those as well.
We tend to turn paper bags into paper mache for all kinds of projects. Cat litter bags are then used in cleaning the cat boxes as are their food bags.
And of course all kinds of bits and bobs that might be thrown out in other households get turned into all kinds of things in ours for puppets or costumes or art.
What was once a conscious effort has become almost effortless. My town has a good recycling center that takes paper and plastic every Wednesday. I have places to recycle other materials that they don’t take. And we re-use a lot around here.
We are making an effort to keep our carbon footprint down and this Earth Day we recognize that plastic can be useful but should be disposed of properly.
I am grateful to everyone who makes the effort to keep plastic use down to a minimum.
I live in Suffolk County which, as of January 1st 2018, has a pay a nickel per bag (that's both plastic and paper so if you like to put plastic in paper it will be a dime) or bring your own. There are a few exceptions to the rule which is summed up as ‘wet exemptions’ like the fish store and the butcher do not charge when you buy ‘wet’ food. So when you go to your local Barnes and Nobel, you either carry your books out in your arms or a bag you brought in or you pay .05 per bag used.
I have no problem with this and have certain bags for certain stores that I have tucked away in my car. In fact I haven’t used plastic from the grocery story in years with the exceptions of a few quick trips and even then I tend to walk out with the items un-bagged.
We use re-usable water bottles around the house and at conventions. Caroline’s school has water fountains that allow you to easily refill your water bottle. I am seeing those types of water fountains in many more places.
We don’t bag our comics (Yes, I just heard the horrific gasp by some collectors). Caroline uses backing boards as paper for her drawings at conventions.
We recycle all the types of plastics we can. The only thing that can be tricky is finding somewhere to take the plastic bags that do happen to wander in the house. Recently most of the grocery stores have put barrels where you can recycle those as well.
We tend to turn paper bags into paper mache for all kinds of projects. Cat litter bags are then used in cleaning the cat boxes as are their food bags.
And of course all kinds of bits and bobs that might be thrown out in other households get turned into all kinds of things in ours for puppets or costumes or art.
What was once a conscious effort has become almost effortless. My town has a good recycling center that takes paper and plastic every Wednesday. I have places to recycle other materials that they don’t take. And we re-use a lot around here.
We are making an effort to keep our carbon footprint down and this Earth Day we recognize that plastic can be useful but should be disposed of properly.
I am grateful to everyone who makes the effort to keep plastic use down to a minimum.
