YOUR TURN: Let's talk about plastic

Hello Gaston County! This week we are going to talk about plastic. As if he is a kid, a student.

I’m going to create a “compliment sandwich” to talk to plastic. A compliment sandwich is what good teachers use at school to help share news that may be hard to hear: compliment the pupil, say the truth, then end with a compliment.

“So…. (I’d say kindly to Plastic) Plastic, you’ve done some really amazing things. Like medical devices, helmets, tools, parts for machinery and cars, even toys, I mean, wow Plastic, you are pretty versatile. But, the tough thing is, well, you have a lot of different traits (AKA resin types, listed by number inside the chasing arrow/recycle symbols) and some of them, Plastic, honestly, aren’t so great in the long run. Not for people, or the planet. Now your inventors and product makers are creating some really cool stuff. It’s practically overwhelming how lightweight, elaborate and inexpensive you are. It’s just that when people are done using those elegant products, to be honest, you're a real pain in the butt to know what to do with. You are just so gosh-darn tricky to figure out sometimes. I get why people have had it with you.

Now take a breath, Plastic, it’s not all the time. If we are dealing with resins #1 (PETE) or #2 (HDPE), you are a pretty good easy-going kind of material. You are welcome at nearly all recycling centers across the country. You shred, melt and pelletize well so you can be reshaped, molded, used again a few times. I mean, really, we can work with you. In Gaston County, we accept all #1s and #2s that are in a bottle or jug style shape. Why that shape? This prevents accidental contamination as there are some #3s and #5s that can look a lot like a #1 fruit container (like a strawberry or blueberry clamshell). For that reason, Gaston County would like to keep contamination at a minimum and only accepts bottles and jugs. Even a jar shape like a peanut butter jar has a very wide neck and shoulder and is identified as a “bottle” by our definition.

As a #4 (LDPE) you are a stretchy plastic film, sometimes a bag, and you can also be recycled into something new in the right community where there are locations to collect you, if you stay clean and dry. Now when we get to your #3 (PVC) and #5 (PP) resins, you start to become harder to work with as far as recycling goes. #5 includes yogurt containers. Did you know a lot of people eat yogurt, Plastic? Unfortunately here in Gaston County, we cannot take your type as a yogurt container. Not even as a Cascade dishwashing pod container. Nope. You just can’t be handled by our recycling hauler, so I’m sorry, we just don’t have a way to deal with you here (for now). As a #6 (PS aka Styrofoam) you are just about impossible, and break into a million little foamy spheres making a mess when you get crushed. Please tell the fast-food places it’s really unacceptable to use you. I get it, you are cheap and insulate really well. But unless people are going to use you for a lifetime, you are just not worth the cost to us down the road. And #7 (Other) - there isn’t even one label to call you because you are just so unpredictable no one knows what to do with you or really what mix of resins you are.

I don’t mean to be rude, Plastic, because it’s not you, it’s your parents. Your makers. Those people who brought you into the world didn’t know where you would end up and pretty much have kicked you to the curb. They said they would help you figure it out, but let’s be real, they are deadbeats. They have failed you. The best we have been able to do in most communities is to help you in your easy stages, when you are a #1 or #2, maybe even a #4, but to be honest, Plastic, your makers are typically not worried about where you end up. They just use you as a means to get their products out there, and then don’t care about what happens to you next. (Not all producers, but a lot of them.) Now, if you were lucky enough to be made with Post-consumer content, or Post Consumer Resin (PCR) you at least were given a little of your predecessors material to start with, so I’d tell your consumer friends, if you have to buy something made out of plastic to look for a percentage of PCR. That is, if there isn’t a non-plastic alternative out there.

Now, I’ve heard there are folks trying some new things for your end of life. There are some bacteria that can consume you, and there are some new bio-plastics that have the properties of oil-based plastic resin but are in fact made of organic materials like seaweed so they can rapidly decompose in the right conditions. All in all, Plastic, you stretch our minds (pun intended), and you really have the ability to become something great (again and again). But like most kids, you can’t be expected to do it on your own, and we are going to need a parent-teacher conference next. I am fully behind your growth and expect that you can and will change. I just need you to quit disintegrating into micro pieces and littering every single organism on the planet, which I realize is not your fault, so maybe I’m talking to the wrong party.

Hey you, reader, you are out there using Plastic, picking him up, maybe for 15 minutes as a grocery bag, maybe about 30 minutes as a drink. If you remember to bring your own bag or water bottle, you can reduce a single-use. But I get it. Convenience. If you have to, the least you can do is put Plastic in the recycle bin if he is a #1 or #2 bottle, or in our local grocery collection bins as a #4 wrap, bag or film. The worst thing is to do is leave Plastic on the ground to break into a million tiny pieces. Yeah, you might have to carry him around for a while until you find the right recycling bin, but hey, it’s a commitment you made to him when you chose to bring him into your life. Let’s give Plastic the chance at a second chance, at least #1s, 2s and 4s here at our Recycle Centers in Gaston County.  Plastic can be a valuable reusable resource but only if it’s collected properly. So let’s give Plastic a good wrap (get it?) and keep it in the loop (stop me now).

As always, I’m here to talk trash with you. Questions? Email becca.hurd@gastongov.com.

Becca Hurd is Gaston County's recycling coordinator.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: YOUR TURN: Let's talk about plastic