Is it really trash?
Last December the federal government brought in bans on some single use plastic items, which will take effect in stages over the next several years. The bans include plastic checkout bags, cutlery, straws, stir sticks, ring carriers and other food service ware.
This was a great step forward on a national level to try to reduce the mountains of plastic waste that end up polluting our environment from land to water. None of it breaks down in any kind of sustainable way and kills wildlife by the boatload through everything from ingestion by sea life to those plastic rings from drink cans strangling the breath out of them.
The province announced last week that it was also bringing in its own regulations around single use plastic items before Christmas of this year.
The plastics industry, through the Responsible Plastic Use Coalition, has launched a lawsuit against the federal ban, and we hope they are not successful. We need to get rid of the deluge of plastic waste in our environment, no matter who won’t be making as much money anymore.
Make no mistake, these plastic bans are just a first step. There are plenty of plastics, even single use ones, not included in the bans. Plastic is useful for some things, including life-saving equipment, and we will never entirely get rid of it for this reason. But not everything should be made of it, especially the things that are going to be immediately discarded.
Which brings us to the vital point at the heart of the whole thing: we throw away far too much stuff.
The way we live is totally unsustainable, and we must demand change. Everything is made to be discarded now, and in shockingly short order. Hot water tanks last 10 years when they used to last a lifetime. One used to purchase a single refrigerator, or freezer or stove in a lifetime. If something went wrong with these huge expenses, they were designed to be repairable, with technicians and parts available.
And that’s to say nothing of our utterly disposable attitude towards clothing, TVs, computers, phones, cameras etc. Even if your device is well made and doesn’t break, the technology around it that enables it to work is moving at such breakneck speed that you look up to find it is no longer compatible, because the industry does not want you to be able to hold onto anything long-term when you could be out there buy, buy, buying.
We must demand the right to repair. We must train people to do the work. Force companies to make things that last, again, by passing laws requiring them to take back all the discards and ban them from simply dumping it into landfills.
We can’t keep living like this. Our planet can’t take it (and neither can our wallets).