Skip to main content

Make It Stop


 

A problem which I had noticed before the pandemic has multiplied drastically over the last year. It looks like this:


Here you see plastic cutlery and napkins which have arrived with take-out orders. It’s not even a whole year’s worth, as I was able to rehome a large chunk a while ago with someone in my Buy Nothing group who needed them for her office. Yes, we’ve been eating more take-out during the pandemic to support local business. No, we didn’t ask for any of this cutlery.

Through no fault of my own I’m now in possession of:

  • Wrapped packets (sets): 41 
  • Wrapped Single Pieces:  45  (Knives 9 Forks 35 Spoons  1)
  • Unwrapped Single Pieces: 107  (Knives 34 Forks 65 Spoons 8)
Number of items I requested or used: 0.

All this plastic is piling up in homes all over Howard County. Social media is studdded with offers from swamped consumers looking to offload their growing stash of takeout silverware. Although merchants most likely provide these items unasked as a form of customer service, the end result is anything but. The amount of plastic pushed out into the community daily is mind-boggling.

Therefore I was pretty darned excited to read this article by Ana Faguy in the Howard County Times:


The gist of it is laid out at the beginning of the article:

The Howard County Council passed the Plastics Reduction Act in a 4-1 vote Monday night, prohibiting the use of certain single-use plastic by restaurants and retailers.

The legislation, introduced last month by County Council member Christiana Mercer Rigby, Vice Chair Opel Jones and Chair Liz Walsh, aims to limit single-use plastic such as straws, stirrers and certain condiment packets in the county by requiring retailers and restaurants to supply alternatives and by asking before giving out condiment packets and plastic ware to customers.

The article details the process by which the bill moved forward, was negotiated, amended, and passed. It looks like there was some pushback from the restaurant industry, as well as some desire from Councilman Yungmann to delay taking action on the bill. In the end, while the bill that was passed was a compromise, it helps the county make significant progress in reducing plastic waste without burdening local merchants with an outright ban which could could cause economic hardship during already difficult economic times.

Local advocacy group Less Plastic Please HoCo celebrated the passage of the bill in a tweet which reads:

HAPPY DANCE HOWARD COUNTY! 

THE PLASTC REDUCTION ACT PASSED 4-1!

WE ARE LOOKING TOWARDS A CLEANER COMMUNITY

This is progress. And it is progress that should not be diluted or delayed. This photo from the Less Plastic Please HoCo Twitter feed says it all:




Just one more thing before I let you go:  does anyone need some plastic silverware and napkins?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Columbia Chance Connection

  Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!”  We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...
Post a Comment
Read more