Toxicity

We have a lot to thank Greta Thunberg for and NGOs, like Greenpeace. Their very existence highlights the dangers facing our planet and urges us to protect and preserve it. We have political parties that designate themselves as Green. We have outspoken, high-profile iconic conservationists such as Sir David Attenborough.

The message is very loud and very clear and nobody can be in any doubt. We do not cherish our wonderful planet as we should. We are not good stewards of our wonderful world.

There are numerous, unanswered questions about how we live and the environment right now. Here are some:-

Why?

• Why does cheap fashion even exist?
• Why are bathrooms and kitchen suites designed and manufactured so individual components cannot be repaired or replaced?
• Why are sofas designed and manufactured so the fabric cannot be easily cleaned?
• Why are radiators installed under windows so the heat flies straight out?
• Why is raw sewage, industrial and agricultural waste poured into our rivers and seas?
• Why do corporates sell single-use plastic products to nations that do not have recycling or even waste disposal?
• Why are our seas and beaches clogged with plastic waste?
• Why do wealthy nations like UK send recycling to other nations to dispose of?
• Why do old white goods become someone else’s responsibility to dispose of, not the original manufacturer’s?
• Why is fruit and vege sold in plastic boxes and cling-film when papier-mache boxes and paper bags exist?
• Why do shops still give out plastic bags?
• Why do people fly-tip and dump rubbish in our fields, woods and parks?
• Why do people chuck fast food and drink containers out of their car windows?
• Why does anyone drop litter?
• Why does plastic debris festoon our trees along motorways and dual carriageways?
• Why do take-away food outlets use single use plastics for every order when alternatives exist?
• Why do hospitals use tons of single use plastics every day? (What happened to sterilisation?)
• Why are bin liners made out of non biodegradable plastic?
• Why are personal care products sold in unrefillable plastic bottles?
• Why do we mix organic waste with inorganic?
• Why is dog poo disposed of in plastic bags?
• Why do we drive 32,884,320 cars in the UK and wonder why respiratory disease is increasing?
• Why is it considered safe to locate schools and housing near busy roads?

Why do people chuck dog-poo-filled plastic bags into the hedges or leave them on the ground? There are no such things as POO FAIRIES.

Katharine

AND the devil incarnate itself- landfill. How will we, the Gen-Zedders, Millenials, Gen-eXers and the Baby-Boomers EVER justify to history, that filling up the ground with toxic, inorganic, non-degradeable rubbish was EVER the right thing to do? All of that waste sitting in the ground for the generations ahead to deal with and live with? Think of all the redundant computer keyboards and analogue TVs festering in the ground somewhere.

Why do we generate so much rubbish?

Answers to any of these questions are highly unpalatable or very complicated. Some are too politically incorrect even to speak out. But in our hearts and minds, we know many of the reasons. We also know some of the answers and, thankfully, every one of us can be part of the solution.

Thumbs up for the following:

• Glass, paper, cardboard, metal, wood, rubble, garden waste, clothes and fabrics that are recycled.
• Plastics that biodegrade.
• Refilling and reusing plastic water bottles.
• Water dispensers that are readily available in airports and elsewhere.
• Bamboo and paper plates, cups, toothbrushes, razors and wooden stirrers.
• Black, Green and Brown bins.
• Who Gives a Crap, SMOL, earthbreeze and environmentally aware businesses.
• Charities like EACH, Sue Ryder and Emmaus and all high street charity shops whose business model is to sell, reuse, repurpose and recyle our old stuff (even when it’s a load of rubbish).
• Wonderful Gumtree through which we can resell or move on our goods and possessions that have lots of use left in them.
• Divert NS – please come to Europe and RoW so we can reuse our plastics.
• Morrisons for switching to paper bags (presume can be recycled).
• Electric cars.
• Bars of soap and shampoo.
• Everytime we don’t use or throw away a plastic bottle.

Every 8.5 minutes, 90,000 used plastic bottles go into landfill.

Anya Hindmarch

I urge everyone to play their part. Governments cannot legislate for our behaviour. Corporates will sell to markets that buy their products. Local government does not have the resources to tackle all our environmental issues. The private sector, with its innovation and resources, please do more to solve issues and give consumers better options.

Charter for Recycling

• Recycling centres act as car boot sales for onwards transmission of anything that can still be used such as:- electrical goods, opened paint, bedding, plants, ornaments, furniture, IT cables etc. (Three cheers Emmaus for doing this already and giving people a worthwhile role in life too.)
• Incineration centres replace landfill and generate heat for schools, hospitals and shopping centres (polystyrene packaging, old carpets and sofas anyone?)
• Smart and fashionable is wearing old and secondhand clothes.
• Womenswear returns and cheap-fashion doesn’t exist.
• Anything new is made to last and of high quality.
• All shops sell recycled goods – it is what shopping centres and high steets do.
• All sofas, mattresses and fabric covered items are designed and manufactured with removable washable covers and ultimately can be collected and recycled by the original manufacturer.
• All business that manufacture are linked to or run their own recycling NGOs.
• Every manufacturer takes back it’s old showers, fridges, TVs, boilers, vacuum cleaners and recycles ALL the parts.
• All manufacturers have a Graveyard Policy for their products.
• Environmentally friendly home incineration units generate heat (like solar panels) and stop the need to use landfill for any inorganic or organic household waste.
• Most plastics are made out of biodegradeable materials.
• All fabric is recycled (welcome back rag and bone “men” and anyone who collects our used items for recycling.)
• Everyone eats less meat and fish and views eating vegan food as a healthy way to live.
• As far a possible we eat locally produced food, in season.
• Everyone, no matter how humble or grand, plays their part.

And finally a big Thank you to You. For everything that you have done to preserve our wonderful world.

Then God said, “Let us make human beings… and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Genesis 1:26