Program:  Plastics Evergreen Alliance for Sustainability Project
Chris Pfaff and Ginny Ades
 
We enjoyed a very informative presentation by Chris Pfaff and Ginny Ades about the efforts of the Evergreen Alliance for Sustainability EAS+Y.  They told us about the proliferation of plastic waste because it such common product in life and it decomposes very slowly.  Curbside recycling has helped, although Colorado is well behind the nation in this effort:  12% compared to 34% recycling nationwide.
 
They told us about some common products that produce huge amounts of plastic waste:
  • Half of the plastic we use is thrown away after just a few minutes of use.
  • Starbucks cups.  Cannot be recycled because they are made of paper with a plastic liner.  Starbucks has committed $10 million to researching the problem.
  • Grocery bags.  Take recyclable bags to the grocery for your purchases instead.  We use 100 billion bags in the USA annually.
  • Water and soda bottles.  1 million single use plastic bottles are used per minute throughout the world.  They are easily recycled, yet we only recycle-30% in the US.
    • In the US, we use 15-17 million barrels of oil annually to make our plastic bottles, that is enough to power 100,000 vehicles
    • Making plastic bottles requires 2 to 3 times water as there is in bottle
    • BPA is in larger bottles – banned in baby products
  • Plastic straws.  They cannot be recycled and we use 500 million each day in the US alone.  Companies are switching to paper straws to help combat the problem.
Much of the plastic waste ends up in the ocean.  This is particularly problematic for many island nations where pictures showed children wading in acres of discarded bottles.
 
Plastic breaks down into small particles and is eaten by fish and birds.  Many die from the logjam it creates in their digestive systems, and it is detected in the seafood and shellfish we eat.  Researchers are now finding micro-plastic particles contaminating the bottled water we purchase.
 
Things to think about:
  • Recycle whenever you can
  • Say ‘no’ to plastic straws in restaurants
  • Use glass containers, it recycles very well with less effort than other waste
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Refute
 
Announcements/Business:
 
  • RYLA  Bill Manning invited us to come to the RYLA camp and observe the remarkable results students are experiencing.
  • Tom Becker is working hard on club social events.  Stand by for more from him regarding future events.
  • Bob Carper’s Celebration of Life Saturday July 14th
  • Wes Paxton is back from his trip to Africa with the Interact participants, assisted by Joey Wilson.
  • Board meeting 7/16 6PM Janine’s house, all are invited.
  • 9/22 is Evergreen recycling day