Dear Crabby,
I am asked if I want paper or plastic every time I cash out at the grocery store. Does it really matter what I choose?
Sincerely, Sally Not-Green
Dear Sally Not-Green,
That’s a great question! I have often wondered that as well. I am all for saving the whales and keeping the glaciers frozen, but I have always felt suspicious about these recycling efforts that the government is behind. I know if you search for “recycling hoax” on the Internet all sorts of things come up where people say they have seen where the waste companies are not doing what they say they are. One time I was up pretty early and happened to catch a garbage truck coming down my street emptying the garbage cans out at the road. I actually watched them dump both my garbage can and my recycle can in the same truck at the same time. That made me really upset because I was actually making an effort to separate and organize these items, only to find out that some guy decided to just toss it all in a landfill! Wasn’t Mt. Trashmore high enough? I asked some people at the city and they told me that the recycle place was overloaded that week so they were just making an exception. I guess that didn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. As far as choosing paper or plastic grocery bags, I like to alternate. The paper bags are nice because you can reuse them and they’re great for starting campfires. Then the plastic are nice because they are easy to carry and take up less room to store. As far as “being green” I guess you will need to do your own research. I have read that some plastic bags are now biodegradable, too. So use your head, ask around and try to do your part to save the planet—that’s all anyone can ask of us.
Sincerely, Dear Crabby
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