An elderly gentleman whose wife wished he remain anonymous came into the Register this week with some useful information about how disposable goods are a blight to the environment.
“I know you think such things will rot in a day or two,” he wrote, but those plastic bags lying in the ditch will take 10 to 20 years to decompose; aluminum cans, 80 to 200 years; disposable diapers, 450 years; plastic bottles, 450 years; and glass bottles, 1 million years.
Such trash lying about sticks in this man’s craw because he knows, as do we all, it doesn’t have to be.
“So stop and think about this the next time you are driving and just finished a soda or pop drink. Don’t throw this stuff out the window. Take it home or stop at places that have trash containers or recycle it. Help keep our county and state roads clean.
“Think about this!” he ended.
It’s nice to know that sometimes the corporate world listens to concerns such as this gentleman’s.
McDonald’s, the world largest restaurant chain, recently announced it has set itself a goal that by 2025 it will use packaging solely derived from renewable or recyclable sources.
The ambitious goal is in response to customer demand, according to a news segment recently aired on NPR.
Little by little, the massive company has worked toward such goals, switching out polystyrene boxes for paper and using more fiber-based products for packaging. According to its website, the company is already more than halfway to its goal.
McDonald’s says the set date of 2025 coincides with when more than 6 million tons of waste will be produced each day.
Add 25 more years, and the world’s oceans can be expected to contain more plastic than fish, if we do not change our ways.
Also, our ever-growing landfills emit more and more methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfills are responsible for more than one-third of methane emissions in the United States.
We can all take steps to making a smaller footprint.
The first of the year is a good time to reevaluate our personal lifestyles to see how we can be less wasteful.
If McDonald’s can do it, surely we can as individuals.
