Plastics Subcommittee Kickoff Meeting
Please join us for our first meeting on January 10, 2021 at 3pm via Zoom.
The Story of Plastic Film Screening and Panel Discussion
The UUCC Climate Crisis Team invites you to an online screening of the powerful new documentary, The Story of Plastic, followed by a discussion on Zoom with a panel of experts on Wednesday, February 10, 7:30- 9:30 p.m. Pre-registration is required. Get more information and register.
Green Tip: Gift-Wrapping Paper
Before you buy your Christmas cards and wrapping paper, consider this: 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high, and an estimated 30 million trees are cut down just to produce gift wrap — and most can’t or won’t be recycled. Can we do better this season? Read more
Plastic waste disposal in the US in 2008 was 86% (29.2 million tons) landfilled, 8% (2.7 million tons) incinerated and 6% (2 million tons) recycled. Only 9% of all plastic ever discarded in the US since 1950 has been recycled. Although recycling plastics is increasing around the world, the rates vary by country.
Japan is by far the most successful with nearly 80% of its plastic waste recycled every year, while the U.S. recycles just 9%. Plastic bag bans are spreading in the US.
As part of the UUCC Climate Crisis Team, we have formed the Plastics sub-team. If you would like to participate, please contact Robin Hessey, climateaction@uucolumbia.net.
Single-Use Plastics 101
Here’s everything you need to know about the most ubiquitous (and avoidable) kind of plastic waste: the kind made to be tossed in mere minutes.
Recent Changes in Howard County Recycling Guidelines
Howard County recently updated its list of recyclable items to exclude many items that were previously recyclable. You might be surprised what is no longer recyclable, but keep in mind that keeping loads “clean” increases the probability that they will be actually recycled instead of put in a landfill.
Resources and Information
- Microplastics found in greater quantities than ever before on seabed
Currents act as conveyor belts that concentrate microplastics in hotspots of biodiversity, study suggests. - More masks than jellyfish’: coronavirus waste ends up in ocean
A glut of discarded single-use masks and gloves is washing up on shorelines and littering the seabed.