Paper: Convenience of Plastics May Not Equal Cost

People all over the world and particularly up and down our Pacific Coast are waking up to the reality of the impact that plastics have on our ocean, The HeraldNet, out of Everett, Washington recently published an editorial with the above title,

" Recycling and sustainable living efforts continue to bump up against our throw-away society, but sometimes it's hard to know if we are making a dent in the nation's garbage dumps.

Facts and figures, such as: In 2005, U.S. residents, businesses and institutions produced more than 245 million tons of solid waste, which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day, don't really register in our consciousness. Not the way, say, the price of gasoline does.

And that's the garbage that makes it to landfills. Pollution, particularly plastics, has been threatening the health of our oceans and wildlife for decades. Only 3.5 percent of plastics are recycled in any way throughout the world. Plastic debris, which do not biodegrade, cause widespread mortality of marine wildlife, according to marine researchers."

Read the entire editorial here.