Knowing the health and climate risks of chemical recycling is one thing, but knowing how to change your own behavior to reduce those risks is another entirely. The plastics “recycling” process is opaque, but so is the process that gets our waste to the facility. This Plastic Free July, I took some time to learn more about where my own plastic waste goes.
Papers are where my hoarding tendencies come into play, and the pile I assembled at the beginning of this week rivaled my mountain of clothes in Week 2. It took a lot of time and energy to make it through everything in this category, and I’m aware that although I’m already at the halfway point, it’s only going to get harder from here.
Happy first anniversary! This post is the fifty-third on the blog, marking one year of Radical Moderate. In honor of the traditional “paper” anniversary, that’s what we will be looking at this week: the resources needed, the pollution generated, how much actually gets recycled (despite our best attempts), and what you can do to reduce the quantity bound for the landfill.
‘Tis the season for decorations, cookies, and warm greetings extended around the globe. What is the most environmentally responsible way to share those warm wishes? Is going paperless really the best option or should we switch over to electronic communications? It’s time for some holiday SWAGs (Scientific Wild-Ass Guesses) to give us a sense of our holiday card options and their related impacts.