Looking Green is Practical

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Sahara Clinic
www.saharaclinic.com The Sahara Clinic is dedicated to empowering people of the absolute importance of Chiropractic Kinesiology for optimal wellness, accelerated recovery and pinnacle performance.
 
One Community a grassroots think tank
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One community Educate, Disseminate and Activate people to find solutions to the issues that impact our lives daily.
 
The Wellness Community Pasadena

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www.twcfoothills.org
The Wellness Community: Leader in Cancer Support, Education and Hope
 
Tri Products Electronic waste

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www.ewaste4u.com
 
Unsung Heroes of the Environment - pg 23 Print E-mail

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Admittedly, we can all be found guilty and convicted as notorious bottle-slinging water drinkers at up to $4 a pop in assorted flavors, imported, mineralized, or fortified. And once we gulp the last drip, those bottles find a cushy permanent address at the nearest landfill – unless.

A duffle-toting female, whose income denies her the luxury of labeled water, scavenges rollaway containers at 2:28 a.m. for used plastics and cans.

She moves speedily and covers a six-block radius by dawn, beating the dump truck on trash day. This morning she scoffs at a news reporter who seems to bear no limits to get a story. She tries to ignore the glaring flash from the camera.

She hefts the sack across her shoulders and onto her back and scoots in the opposite direction. Then she realizes she really wants to go the other way, but with the persistent in-your-face kind of reporter, she is back into the sidewalk and almost loses her load. I moved out of her way and let her go as my camera caught a fuzzy glimpse of her moving figure.

A single dawn’s prize could yield up to four pounds of PETE, and at 92 cents a pound, she has almost earned enough for a jug of milk. The nameless female (well I didn’t have the balls to get an official statement from her so early in the morning) and fellow planet-protectors have yet to win accolades for their heroic efforts to save the planet from undeniable doom.

According to the Beverage Market Data Analysis, only 34% of the 215 billion plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans sold in the U.S., 2006 have been rescued from dumpsters and landfills. While there has been at least a five percent increase in plastic container packaging and use, recycling has been on the decline since 2000, according to the latest report from the Container Recycling Institute.

The Bottle Recycling Climate Protection Act of 2007, heralded by Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey, calls for a five-cent deposit label on all beverage containers sold in America. Presently, eleven states impose container deposits, in an attempt to stem local trash costs. No bill forces consumers to leave bottled water on shelves. However, no legislation is necessary for poor planet-protectors, like my nameless female subject to dig through our not-so-pleasant rubbish in hopes of saving our planet from plastic devils. Of course she is driven by the 92 cents per pound.