I'm not sure what year it was, but I think I can narrow down the time that America strayed off course. It was when soft drink and beer companies started offering their drinks in disposable bottles instead of ones that required a deposit.
If there was no incentive to return the bottles, why not toss them in the dump. It started with glass bottles which were bad enough, but then came the plastic ones.
This one corporate decision, but millions of industrious kids out of a job. Instead of them policing up roadsides and parks looking for bottles to buy pocket knives, and handlebar streamers for their bikes, they did other things. There was no incentive for them to pick up bottles so they let them lie.
I think that's when landfills began filling at alarming rates.
There is a floating island of plastic garbage in the Pacific that is twice the size of Texas. Google it.
The idea for this came to me today on our morning walk. I came an old glass non-deposit Pepsi bottle.
Thankfully, Mother Nature found a use for this piece of refuse.
She decided to create a terrarium.
You are so right...and even though kiddos could pick up aluminum cans for recycle most parents would never agree to letting them go out alone along a road to find some. We always took our scouts to help clean up roads and also the river in our state park has an annual float clean up. It's amazing how much stuff is thrown in our beautiful parks and rivers by slobs who don't give a rats @$@ about our environment. I'm amazed at the junk I pick up on the front of my yard near the road when I mow!
ReplyDeleteSadly true.
ReplyDeleteI like the terrarium though - and have seen expensive 'stylish' ones which were not nearly so attractive.
I am all for restarting that deposit thing. Twenty-five cents a bottle might do it. Start back an industry of cleaning those bottles. We used to collect enough bottles just on the 1/2 mile walk through a construction area to the bowling ally to pay for two games and rent shoes. Plastic, lived without it once could do it again.
ReplyDeleteI remember buying my first baseball glove from crates of 2 cent bottles. You have a great point here. Funny you should mention the no deposit bottle, I just dug up a coke bottle with coke in it that will still foam when shaken.
ReplyDeleteI wish the bottles were still returned for reuse, ahhh the milk bottles I remember so well. Enough... Enjoyed the read!
You are right, our landfills are full of bottles and cans and they last for ever along with all the plastic grocery bags and disposable diapers. So sad. We'll have to take measures to reduce it as all the land fills are filling up and there will be no place left to put our trash.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying hard to use less plastic but it's difficult when the grocery stores sell in plastic containers. I saw the plastic island you are talking about and it's alarming.
ReplyDeleteMother Nature did a good job of using this abandoned bottle.
Hugs, Julia
I think this is a timely post, Rick. I watched a special on that floating patch of plastic and junk. It is so sad!!
ReplyDeleteI loved those old glass bottles and still buy them here when I can.
Hope you have a great week, Rick- Hugs-Diana
Here in South Australia we have 10c deposits on drink cans and glass bottles, plastic drink containers and there is virtually no cans, plastic containers or bottles discarded on the side of the roads. Everyone collects them in a recyclable bag and when full we take it to Recycle Depot where we get our refund. The depots are often run by Scouts. Not all Australian states do this, but they are gradually changing and it does make a huge difference to the rubbish on the roadside.
ReplyDeleteIt is only in the last few years that here where I live you can now return soft drink cans and bottles for 10 cents each one.
ReplyDelete