Voters Voice Amendment (VVA)

It turns out that a very large study, using 100,000 volunteers, finding 1.8M pieces of plastic, showed 56 companies are responsible for about 50% of the plastic found. The most common plastics found lying around are containers from refreshment companies, with Coke-cola leading the pack (Washington Post 26Apr2024).

Also, the EarthBreeze.com website indicates the numbered “recycle” symbols on the bottom of plastic containers are only plastic classification codes – not recycle codes. Of the plastics that are turned in to recycling centers, only 10% are eventually recycled --and 90% are not. Considering the other plastics going directly to landfills, or worse, we have at least 95% of plastic containers used are single-use -- and NOT recycled.

A newer discovered issue is microplastic, very fine chunks of plastic are permeating our environment – land, sea, air, and bodies. It is estimated each adult has about a credit-card size amount of microplastics in their body. As a biochemist I will say, that is not a good thing.

1. Let’s go back to buying powered products, in cardboard containers, and then at home refilling a plastic/other container, or spray bottle, with the powder dissolved in water.

2. We should go back to a few decades ago, and require deposits on refreshment containers, back then glass bottles -- to be directly reused. We could do the same thing sort-of, require a deposit to ensure the bottles are returned to be recycled into some type of product. Ten cents a bottle and 3 cents for the cap should do it. Return to a designated location to get your deposit back. The deposit back-in-the-day kept containers off the streets, out of trash cans, etc., as a kid, I made money finding and returning them myself.

If the VVA was in place today, we could turn ideas like one and two above into initiatives and possibly laws.

Purpose above Politics & Power