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Should Companies Be Responsible for Their Trash?
Recycling and “zero waste” have their limits
One morning this past summer, I took a walk, and I picked up trash along the sidewalk as I went along. It was obvious where most of the trash littering the sidewalk was coming from: Cups branded with a local cafe’s logo were scattered near the cafe. Wrappers from a local taco place were, you guessed it, right by the restaurant.
Also scattered around were various cigarette butts and candy or granola bar wrappers. Those aren’t disposable and won’t break down.
The onus has always been on customers to dispose of trash responsibly — or avoid it entirely. The cost of recycling items has fallen on many cities and their taxpayers.
However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that recycling is not as easy as many of us have been led to believe. And many items can’t be recycled.
There is a growing zero waste movement, in which people aim to create no trash in the first place. To be a zero waster, you have to radically change what you buy.
But it’s difficult, and sometimes impossible. I take reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, but most of the groceries I want to buy are wrapped in plastic. A medication I have to take monthly comes in foil-and-plastic packaging that’s…
