“No one can do everything,… — Max Lucado
I decided to reduce the amount of plastic that I bring into my house this month. Some things are unavoidable like medication bottles and tubes. Others are difficult like yogurt containers and produce bags.
Halfway through this month I have collected 8 ounces of plastic. If every adult in San Francisco brought only one pound of plastic into their homes this month, that would be about 750,000 pounds or 375 tons of mostly single use plastic.
If every adult in the US brought only one pound of plastic into their homes this month, that would be about 254,000,000 pounds or 127,000 tons of plastic – in one month.
Obviously, most adults are buying, and throwing away, much more plastic than that.
Plastic is a petroleum product. Because it is cheap, it has replaced paper, glass, natural fibers, and metal in everything from cheese wrappers to women’s clothing – yes, polyester, nylon, and spandex are petroleum products.
If everyone made an effort to reduce plastic in their lives, not only would we help protect the environment, we would reduce the profitability of the producers and the release of toxic chemicals from the production of these materials into the air, water, and soil.
There are about 254,000,000 adults in this country. Even if only 10%, or 25,000,000 people reduced their dependency on plastic, that would be a reduction of hundreds of tons of plastic a month, which is a worthwhile goal.
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” Edward Everet Hale