Earth Day on Long Island, Let's Get Tough On Plastic: Opinion

This Sunday, April 22, once again is Earth Day. On Long Island, Mother Earth has been the best to us. Beautiful beaches, fresh air, clean drinking water and in Suffolk County, amazing fertile farmland. However now it's time to protect our gift of all things Long Island.

Plastics have been around since the 1950s; they are a cheap and convenient alternative to organic containers, such as paper, however they are problematic and wreak havoc on our terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. Plastic straws cannot be recycled and pose new concerns.

Single-use plastic products are those that are used for a few minutes and wind up in landfills, bays, estuaries and oceans. Too often, we even see them in trees.

Dr. Rebecca Grella, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist, explains, "Plastics take thousands of years to break down, and if it’s not on land it’s in our ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has over 100 million tons of garbage floating in it."

I asked her what is being done to stem the escalating tide.

"The Suffolk County 5 & 5 committee, established by Leg. Dr. William Spencer, that I am a part of is assisting in educating and informing citizens to curb their use of plastic," she said. "The five cent fee has led to a marked reduction in plastic bag usage at stores islandwide. It’s also created an open dialogue about environmental issues."

So how effective is this new program? Again Dr. Grella offered insight: "A previous Suffolk County survey reported that 70% of people are using plastic. The Citizens Campaign For the Environment organized a supermarket survey and found 71% are now using reasonable bags."

But where does all the recycling we put in that can go? I asked.

She replied, "Not many people know this but many/not all Suffolk County municipalities use the materials recycling facility in Brookhaven, a single stream recycling facility. This facility is used to recycle paper, cardboard, plastics, tin, and aluminum. Unfortunately, plastic bags cannot be recycled here and clog the system. This facility makes it easier for people to recycle because products can be co-mingled. It is important to note that recycling rates are up 25% since the single stream recycling began in 2014."

So it comes down to this: If we don't want our beaches and coves to look like those huge floating plastic islands that are hundreds of square miles wide and long ,we need to pay attention now before it's all too late. For Mother Earth, for our Long Island, for our children's children, let's stay on this course of reducing our plastic bag usage. Dr. Grella concluded: "This problem of plastic consumption is already out of hand worldwide, but every journey starts with small steps. You don’t get there unless you stay the course.”

Let's get there. Let's all take the small steps — it adds up.

Photo courtesy Dr. Rebecca Grella.

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