Last week Ruth, my wife, grocery shopped with mask and gloves on, as has become her practice. She followed the store protocols and took her place in the physical distancing queue. What happened at the check-out was different than it has been during the past few months. Instead of putting groceries in the plastic bags she's been forced to use, rather than the multi-use, washable bags she usually brings. she put all her items in the cart to take to our vehicle.
As she loaded them in the back on an extremely hot morning she realized that next time she would be prepared with containers to receive the groceries for the trip home. Why did she go to this effort? Disposable plastics are "against her religion", as much as that's possible these days. One of the many examples of collateral damage with COVID-19 is the sharp uptick in the use of plastics in virtually every aspect of life. A lot of it makes sense for the safety of humans but it's a mess for the environment.
And all those disposable gloves? Inexplicably, people flush them down toilets -- is COVID a brain-wasting disease?-- clogging sewers and treatment plants. Personal Protective Equipment is washing up on shores everywhere.
This month happens to be Plastic Free July and we can all take our responsibility to "live with respect in Creation" seriously be using as little plastic as possible and being care-full about how we dispose of what we must use. We are aware that the use of plastics has come about in our lifetimes (born mid-50's) and that somehow life was possible.
We can also push governments to strengthen rather than weaken environmental laws, which many jurisdictions are doing during the pandemic. Here is the form letter I sent to the Ford government in Ontario provided by the Sierra Club and the link for you to do as well. Indiscriminate use of plastics should be "against our religion" for all Groundlings.
Dear Premier Ford:
I am writing today to call on you to take the following actions to reduce plastic pollution, reuse a greater amount of plastics by providing more recycling opportunities within our province, and retain plastic pollution by keeping microplastics out of our Great Lakes and drinking water.
I know that very soon the Government of Ontario will be releasing rules for recycling and reducing plastic waste and I am looking for strong regulatory action to tackle plastic pollution. Under COVID-19, some single-use plastic products have been used a lot more. We need to stop the use of this unnecessary plastic once the risk of COVID spread declines.
This can be achieved by implementing the following:
1. REDUCE: Ban styrofoam and single-use plastic products like disposable plastic bags and black plastic (which cannot be recycled).
2. REUSE: Act immediately to regulate plastic recycling and re-use through the soon-to-be-released Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act (RRCEA) framework. I urge you to establish regulatory timelines and standards for the recovery and recycling of plastic waste, shift the responsibility to polluters to collect and re-use or recycle plastic waste by establishing full Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules, and expanding recycling retrieval beyond residential waste to all sources of paper and packaging waste by 2026. We know this will save municipalities money and create jobs in the recycling sector. Structured correctly, EPR will also incentivize companies to innovate to reduce the amount of waste created in the first place - saving them money and resources.
3. RETAIN: Protecting our Great Lakes is a priority to all of us. We know that annually, an estimated 22 million pounds or 10 million kilograms of plastic enter our Great Lakes. Plastic debris harms wildlife and fish through ingestion and entanglement; and microplastics threaten healthy drinking water for everyone around the Great Lakes. Making strong rules for waste reduction and recovery and recycling through the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act (RRCEA) will help reduce some of the plastic litter that chokes the Great Lakes - but not all of it. I, in concert with Sierra Club members around the Great Lakes, ask that you, as part of efforts to “build back better” post-COVID-19, require wastewater treatment plants to install microplastic filtres that will help keep our drinking water and Great Lakes safe.
Reducing plastic pollution will create jobs, save taxpayer dollars, and incentivize industries and businesses to innovate. I look forward to Ontario taking clear and effective action to tackle plastic pollution in the months ahead.
Sincerely,
https://www.sierraclub.ca/en/node/3639
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