Shoal Brook II

Not Just an inconvenient truth but a growing problem.

Aug 24, 2008

Globally, white pollution or the disposing of non biodegradable products is a growing problem . Annually, 438 billion items are disposed of each year . Risks of doing nothing Landfills are filling up at an alarming rate. The problem is felt locally already. Deffenbaugh has to be stricter on what they will pick up. One of Deffenbaugh?’s Johnson county landfills, that was expected to be open until 2027, is projected to be full 10 years sooner than expected if current trends don't change. Deffenbaugh reports that 80% of the material in their landfills could be recycled if consumers would just do it. Why is it so hard to change? Most people care but feel powerless to change things. So they stick to their daily habits and nothing changes. It is also easy to let a problem that is out of sight be out of mind too and thus we become complacent. How to overcome ?– Do what you can and what you are comfortable with. Some specific things you can choose to do are: 1. Use as few disposable products as possible. (ie use canvas shopping bags, buy fresh produce and products with less packaging 2. If you must use disposable products, try to use compostable or biodegradable ones whenever possible 3. If you must use products that are disposable and not biodegradable, try to recycle them. 4. Buy products made from recycled material to create a market niche. If everyone does just 1 or 2 things, the compound impact could be huge!