All Garbage Is A Problem

Move over “hug-a-tree”, plastic straws are now the latest environmental “cause du jour”. The media has created so much hype about this crime in progress that it has mobilized almost everyone connected to the outside world to be in understandable agreement for eliminating plastic straws. Even though plastic straws are only 4% of plastic trash with plastic bottles being a bigger problem at approx. 26-41% of plastic waste in some areas, the power of publicity cannot be underestimated. It is reported that humans have thus far put 150 million metric tons of plastic in our oceans, an amount growing by 8 million metric tons a year.

Unfortunately, this is more than a ‘plastic’ problem. Although our bite-size chunks at reducing plastic waste may be a step in the right direction, addressing the problems associated with the disposal of all forms of garbage remains our biggest challenge. While a worldwide elimination of plastic bottles, bags and straws may be an admirable objective, perhaps we can all do more to acknowledge our collective responsibility to reduce our own contributions to the problem.