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April 02, 2007
Of Cigarette Butts & Plastic Bags
Monday morning rant: Why do retailers insist on double bagging everything? Why do smokers think it's okay to toss their cigarette butts on the street?
As for plastic bags, I think I do my part. I carry canvas bags with me everywhere, and I try my very best to decline a bag if offered. The garbage bags we use are made from 40% recycled materials. But compostable garbage bags are hard to find in New York. I guess I should buy them on the web.
San Francisco has made a huge decision to ban non-biodegradeable plastic bags. The EPA estimates that only 5.2% of plastic bags are recycled. Ireland imposes a tax on plastic bags, which has cut the use of plastic bags by 90%. The plastic bags going to landfill will take some 1,000 years to decompose. 1,000 years!
I heard a statistic on NPR last week that I found astonishing. New York City recycles only 17% of waste. While New Yorkers can be proud of a lot of things, this is not one of them.
Now, as for ciggy butts. It is estimated that 4.3 trillion cigarette butts are littered each year. If, at the same moment a smoker tosses a butt on the street (and invariably does not stomp it out), I tossed a candy bar wrapper on the street, I suspect they would holler at me to pick it up and toss it in the bin. Why do smokers think this is okay? Couldn't they toss it on the ground, put it out, pick it up, and toss it in the bin? Couldn't they carry one of those portable ashtrays? Do they realize that it takes 12 years for the filters to decompose?
There. I feel better now.
Thanks to the New York Times for the photo.
Posted by dave at April 2, 2007 08:59 AM