Do we know the difference between trash and treasure?

Goodwill has a message for people making donations– stop donating your trash! While it doesn’t feel great to throw away things we’ve bought, pawning off your trash (or things you don’t use in bad condition) is never the answer. Making these “donations” may make you feel better about your consumption, but ends up costing these organizations thousands of dollars each year. Also, is it fair to think we are helping people who rely on these organizations for discounted goods by giving them things even we would not use anymore? News from both this month and years ago similarly stress trash being donated is a problem and demonstrate this issue is not new. After coming across Goodwill’s statement, I am more intentional about sifting through my donations before I drop them off.

Investing and Protecting

The Department of Energy recently announced an astounding budget of up to $14.5 million for research and development to cut waste and reduce the energy required to recycle single-use plastics (i.e. plastic bags, wraps, and films). These solutions incentivize investing in recycling technologies and creating recycling jobs in the United States, and ultimately reduce the amount of plastics that end up in the environment. 

Funding recycling technologies to streamline and increase efficiency would keep plastic out of the environment. We see evidence of our failed recycling industry in the new research out every week. New results this week are yet another example of just how far reaching single-use plastic pollution is, yet again. Scientists out of the Galapagos have shown hotspots of litter in key habitats coming from ocean currents. The lead scientist, Dr. Jones, stated,

“Given the level of pollution we have found in this remote location, it’s clear that plastic pollution needs to stop at source. You can’t fix the problem just by cleaning beaches.”

The Galapagos Islands are famous for being the birthplace of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and home to the “Godzilla” marine iguana. Keeping our trash (specifically, single-use plastics) out of the environment is only possible with adequate waste and recycling services for all people. The Department of Energy’s willingness to invest in research and development could lead to technologies necessary to stop plastic pollution at the source.