Balloon releases are bad for the environment. Please don't release balloons.
This is a really cool website balloonsblow.org The founders have been cleaning beaches for over 15 years. They started this website to open awareness about the environmental impact of balloon releases. Check it out. and take a look at their wall of shame.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Save the Bottle Bill!!
The American Beverage Association has been working hard to terminate the Bottle Bill. With out the Bottle Bill there would be no more 5 cent redemption for soda bottles or beer bottles.
I grew up in New York where the Bottle Bill has been around for a couple decades. Redeeming bottles was how I payed for lunch at least once a week while I was going to college. The bottle bill in Vermont(the state I live in now) doesn't cover as much as New York currently does, but it is nice to live in a state where bottles can be redeemed.
The Bottle Bill is the most affective recycling program because it places value on items that would otherwise be discarded. Unfortunately, the Bottle Bill has been under attack since the 1980's. Many states have adopted some form of recycling program, but only
eleven states have adopted a form of the bottle bill. The last State to adopt the bottle bill was Hawaii in 2002, which happens to be a state surrounded by the ocean. Yes, you guessed it, they must have passed the bill because of all of the plastic that washes up on their beaches. Unfortunately many of the other states don't seam to have the same sense of urgency to the issue of plastic in the ocean.
The bottle bill is under attack in just about every state. Supporters have to go up against a strong opposition force of lobbyists payed for by the American Beverage Association and other interested parties. In Vermont the American Beverage association is trying to push legislation that would replace the current bottle bill with a state-wide EPA system or zero sort recycling program.
Maclean, Meheen and Rice(MMR), a Law firm based in Montpelier has put up a web site that promotes the EPA Legislation. It is www.wecandobettervt.com. The propaganda cleverly frames the issue and makes it look like more people support the one tiered state-wide EPA system over a system that incorporates both zero sort recycling and bottle redemption models. At the bottom of the site there is a link that is hardly noticeable, "paid for by MMR". If you fallow the links you find that the American Beverage Association is a client of MMR. Hmmm, how interesting.
Zero sort recycling programs work OK for what they do, (divert household garbage from the dump) but they aren't built to address the issue of Plastic Litter, much of which comes from discarded bottles. If there is no value placed on the item who would bother picking it up, other than paid road crews?
When a recyclable item is collected separately from rubbish, it produces a higher quality product. There are many items that can only be recycled if they are collected separately; such as print cartridges, cell phones, digital cameras and other electronics. One wouldn't think of replacing one of these redemption programs so why get rid of the bottle bill?
Please Help save the Bottle Bill. Please support the bottle bill in your state.
Thanks
I grew up in New York where the Bottle Bill has been around for a couple decades. Redeeming bottles was how I payed for lunch at least once a week while I was going to college. The bottle bill in Vermont(the state I live in now) doesn't cover as much as New York currently does, but it is nice to live in a state where bottles can be redeemed.
The Bottle Bill is the most affective recycling program because it places value on items that would otherwise be discarded. Unfortunately, the Bottle Bill has been under attack since the 1980's. Many states have adopted some form of recycling program, but only
Maclean, Meheen and Rice(MMR), a Law firm based in Montpelier has put up a web site that promotes the EPA Legislation. It is www.wecandobettervt.com. The propaganda cleverly frames the issue and makes it look like more people support the one tiered state-wide EPA system over a system that incorporates both zero sort recycling and bottle redemption models. At the bottom of the site there is a link that is hardly noticeable, "paid for by MMR". If you fallow the links you find that the American Beverage Association is a client of MMR. Hmmm, how interesting.
Zero sort recycling programs work OK for what they do, (divert household garbage from the dump) but they aren't built to address the issue of Plastic Litter, much of which comes from discarded bottles. If there is no value placed on the item who would bother picking it up, other than paid road crews?
Please Help save the Bottle Bill. Please support the bottle bill in your state.
Thanks
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