The Throw-Away Nation

Well, I'm back on my soapbox. But, when something is this important I just can't be silent.

My English cousin once told me the Brits think of America as the throw-away nation. We don't recycle as we should. We don't reuse either. We spend carelessly and have become an instant gratification nation. Things have to be new, the latest, and no matter the cost we have to get them. Our youngsters are being taught terrible lessons that will one day cripple our economy.

Speaking about youngsters—A caption in the newspaper recently caught my attention. It was titled "Dumpster Diving" and I immediately thought it was about the homeless and needy in our country. I was wrong! These dumpster divers were teenagers from Freedom High School in Hillsborough County, Florida. They were part of an archaeology program called 'garbology' sponsored by the government to see what kind of waste existed in the schools. They were diving into the school's dumpsters and they weren't finding fossils. No, they were finding huge piles of unopened milk cartons, slices of pizza and trays of lunch food. Do any of the students discarding these items take a moment to think there are hungry people all over our country? I doubt it. I hope the parents and teachers of these school children took note of the waste and have programs scheduled to explain what terrible consequences this waste will have on their future and of those who follow them.

Recently I overheard a mother complain that her kids lose so much stuff she is constantly replacing articles of clothing that just disappear; school supplies that mysteriously jump out of back packs, cell phone that are no longer around anywhere and towels that make one-way trips to the gym. She said the kids just assume if those things disappear there will be others to replace them.

Now here's the gist of my concerns. We must learn how to be thrifty; thrifty in our spending, our attitude about taking care of this wonderful world we have and in using our assets wisely. Recycling is one of the ways to instill this lesson into our daily life and at the same time show our family and neighbors that it's something all of us can do. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort. Just put aside the newspapers and magazines. Keep all the aluminum, plastic bottles, glass bottles and foam containers. There are bins for those things. Most counties have a great many recycling locations. Here in Florida, Publix supermarkets have recycling containers in front of their stores. Did you know you can recycle egg cartons, those foam trays under your meat and chicken purchases, those pesky foam peanuts and the little boxes you bring home filled with your restaurant leftovers? They can all be rinsed out and kept until you get to the recycle bins.

I try to recycle everything possible from the largest plastic bottle to a Jell-O box and the tubes paper towels come on. Is it a pain? Not really. I've organized five containers in my shed and hold the things to be recycled until I get to the locations available. I've read some terrifying statistics about the life and condition of our landfills. Apparently a plastic water bottle or a two-liter soda bottle takes 700 years to decompose in a landfill. The space this country has for new landfills is almost non-existent. If we don't recycle what kind of a legacy are we leaving for the next generations?

Think of all the ways you could contribute to the cause. We have enough tough problems, this one is easy.

Don't be a throw-away nation.