Imagine pulling the tab from a plastic drink bottle. That ring of plastic matching the lid. Zip and it’s off. Then toss it “away”. These bright rings of plastic find their way into the sea where they are ingested by birds, turtles and marine mammals. They have been found in the bellies of Laysan Albatross nesting 2500 miles away from the nearest land. Thanks to Chris Jordan for photographing this heartbreaking "canary in a coal mine."
These tamper-resistant devices came along after the Tylenol® cyanide terror event in 1982. Seven people were killed. It was the 9/11 incident for packaging. That one moment in American history is the generator of a lot of plastic garbage. Think of the safety seals on cottage cheese, yogurt, all kinds of medicine, on and on, giving assurance that some crazy person with a flock of demons cycling through the brain hasn’t slipped deadly poison into what you are about to swallow.
What to do?
Imagine choosing glass bottles or aluminum cans when you go to the superette or convenience store. Glass and aluminum recycles 100's of times and is secure without extra gizmos adding to the waste stream. Plastic mostly never is recycled but sometimes once. What is the true cost of cheap plastic? Let's sharpen our pencils and do some figgerin'…
