March 2023

Time to get onboard the time travel train back to the '70's - disco, muscle cars and the birth of recycling. Yes, I thought recycling started well into the 1980's but the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle theme was born in 1976 (if Wikipedia is to be believed). And this is where the brain cells that have been destroyed over many single malts get jump started. There was another "R" that seems to have been totally forgotten that was an integral part of the recycling mantra - Rethink.

I think that most of us have focused almost totally on the recycle concept. We are proud when we fill our blue bins with assorted packaging materials and bring them in to the Depot. Don't get me wrong here - we are happy you do this on a regular basis. Our landfills are happy and our planet is happy. I am suggesting that we start rethinking this whole concept of the 4 "R's" with a new focus on the thinking part.

On our kitchen counter we have a very large box of plastic wrap, the kind you might wrap a sandwich in. I am far too guilty of turning to this as a first resort to cover a bowl of left-overs. Fortunately, my wife turns me to the topsy turvy cupboard filled with Tupperware where on a good day I can match a container with its lid that can hold said leftovers. The box of plastic wrap is destined to live on our counter longer than 1 shall inhabit this planet.

In volunteering at the Recycling Depot, I have seen many situations which have spawned a 'Rethinking" moment. Example - a very well-organized tote brought in with dozens of individual serving yogurt containers, all rinsed thoroughly and stacked like lego. Someone's gut flora is very healthy. But if you are eating this much yogurt in your life, surely a larger container of it in your fridge is not going to go bad in the few days it will take you to eat it all. In practicing what I preach, I like to think that my having a kegerator of beer from Mayne Island Brewery is my way of saving the planet from too many beer bottles and cans. (My wife disputes this claim).

Just today I read an article in the New York Times about recycling and how the different kinds of plastics are confounding the recycling concept. Some of these plastics are accepted as recyclables while others are not. And sometimes it is the policies of recyclers as to what is acceptable that become the confounding factor. I suggest that there needs to be a constant "rethinking" of these issues to allow for a more sustained and practical practice of recycling that actually works.

Continue your recycling and look forward to more rethinking in April's Mayne Island Recycling Society's article in the MayneLiner.