Plastic Out of Control. Ban long overdue needs support by Council

Plastics; Over-Engineered Products of Convenience Out-of-Control

Parsippany Council needs to support by resolution the pending State legislation now being proposed in the Senate No.2776 and the Assembly as No.4330.

When it comes to plastic waste and pollution it appears the free market lost control of itself in the over promotion without proper foresight or thought of the impacts that have occurred and are exponentially progressing as now rather than less plastic being produced more is being made. This is as if no one sees or wants to see the obvious trash and litter phenomena; it would not be inappropriate to refer to this plastic plaque as a form of climate change in its magnitude locally and worldwide. At the very least as plastic is a petroleum derivative product we may see it as a form of oil spill escaping into our American and Planetary landscapes, waterways and oceans.

The only hope of bringing this phenomenon under control is strict common sense laws of disallowing further product productions and sales of this harmful substance. We must combine this legislation with the realization that humans lacking conscience discipline, and being encouraged to consume in a free market society of thoughtlessness; but for “corporate” enticements profits that lack and evade responsibility for the results of these unnecessary and overly engineered convenience products must come to an end for the benefit of all.

Take note of the following two statements from County Sanitation officials concerning funding generated by recycling and litter tax on certain products:

Actually, the clean communities fund, which is a grant provided to the town to help minimize the impacts of litter, is funded by litter generating food establishments in New Jersey and was setup to accomplish what you describe above which is to have the companies pay for the cleanup and prevention of litter they generate as opposed to the general public. Whether it is an effective program may be another question.

as the value of recycling continues to fall the markets are being forced harder to clean up their waste-streams in order to keep the viability of the marketing of their end products alive. Parsippany for years had been using a recycling market that didn’t care about quality, which went bankrupt, and bad habits were developed in Parsippany where they accepted everything. I know Parsippany now uses a different recycling market that is more concerned with quality and the materials Parsippany picks up will get better and better as the market provides feedback on what is dropped off. This relationship is still new so some of the old bad habits may take some time to change.

I will state the obvious the program is not effective; and for the amount of time recycling has been in existence and as a Mandatory Law, the result is more materials with various recycling symbols and markets or lack thereof. People and businesses are not complying with the law nor does the discipline and work ethic necessary to carry through the effort exist in any real way within the culture of consumption. Why were products like “Styrofoam” even allowed out on the market?

Convenience has turned America into a de-facto trash dump. Speaking of trash dumps most of this plastic waste is in fact never recycled and winds up in landfills which are shrinking and costing more, so this plastic pollution problem exasperates all aspects of being cost effective or avoiding future costs. In the United States the largest consumer of any nation only 33% of all materials are recycled. Over 70% of the plastics go to waste in landfills. (Not counting the litter one cannot escape)

Plastic never biodegrades but only breaks down into smaller micro-particles infecting our soils, water and actually entering the anatomy of plants, animals and humans.

Please encourage the Council and Mayor to support this necessary and long over due Plastic Ban legislation by resolution to the State. Plastic litter and pollution should offend us all. In a place like Parsippany with all its franchises and businesses many generating convenience products lasting but minutes, but lasting forever as we continue to degrade our common places, streets, parks, beaches, waterways and oceans.

It’s a fact the same nation that put a man on the moon, cannot even take out the garbage, and sweep the street everyday as a norm of society. How did we get this way and why is no one alarmed?

If corporations are people they must be held accountable. How many jobs can be mandated in cleaning our roadways and landscapes; not prison labor but real jobs, real jobs in conjunction with law enforcement effects because the very fact of keeping it clean will lead to excuses to continue the litter phenomena.

Perhaps Parsippany should rethink how they contract their sanitation; for example volume or amounts rather than everyone splitting a bill should charge residents. This is unfair to those whom do practice good source separation and recycling. Businesses should not be using municipal sanitation services either, as i know of one that does without interference despite the large amounts of materials every-week.