Chris,
Does your message suggest that city trash collection requires garbage to be
in
plastic bags before being placed in a trash can or dumpster? I have always
lived
in apartment buildings and have never bagged my trash in plastic. My
building just
got a new dumpster and tenants received a notice that trash should be
bagged.
I don't know if this is just a guideline or if it will be enforced. I
don't see how I
could be required to buy plastic bags just to throw trash.
I read a narrative by an immigrant to the United States who knew she was
in a rich country when she saw Americans disposing of their trash in plastic
bags.
Reasons not to use plastic bags to dispose of trash:
1. Plastic is made from petroleum and petroleum comes from the Middle East.
2. The US sends military aid to repressive Middle Eastern governments to
insure our access to their oil.
3. Garbage in plastic bags can not biodegrade if placed in a landfill.
4. Plastic burned in a landfill creates toxic gases which threaten human
health and pollute the environment. Have you ever accidentally had
plastic
get to close to something hot in your kitchen? Then burning smell
when it
melts makes a person sick. It makes us sick because it's toxic.
That's
what we breathe from the garbage burner.
5. Bacteria used to break down food waste changes from aerobic to
anaerobic
when placed in a plastic bag due to lack of air. When a plastic bag
that has
been storing decaying food breaks open the odor from the food tells
us that
it's not decaying the way nature intended. Even an open plastic bag
with food
waste in it makes the kitchen smelly. What is the danger in changing
bacteria
in this way and releasing into the environment?
6. Plastic bags cost money. Don't we have more important things on which
to spend
money?
7. Buying petroleum based products supports the George Bush family oil
industry.
Do we really want to do that?
The best way to dispose of food waste is composting. Worm composting can be
done
indoors without any mess. Read "Worms eat my Garbage".
In my family we put food waste in paper bags in the freezer. It doesn't
contaminate the
"good" food, It doesn't stick to the freezer, the cat can't get at it, it
doesn't decay
and smell up the house. And it can stay in the freezer almost indefinitely
until
I get around to taking it out to the trash, or until the freezer is full
and there's no more room.
Liz Morgan
Uptown
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