There are two types of plastics
I hope this post finds you well.
“Hello, my fellow earthlings, thank you for volunteering. … As you can see, we have great weather today. Very little wind. Sunny and no chance of rain. It couldn’t be better than this.” said the cleanup supervisor, John, while looking out over the volunteers.
“How often do you pick up trash here and how long have you been doing this?” said Julia. A small little runt with large glasses, magnifying her eyes like a bug.
“We come here once a month and I’ve been driving volunteers here for 10 years.” said John.
“There is a lot of trash here. Where does it come from?” said Julia, raising her hands into the air. She looked like some cartoon character. Looking around some more she said, “I don’t understand where did all this trash come from? Did beach goers leave it behind?”
“No. The sea washed it up.”, said John.
“Huh?”
“Yea, all this washed ashore in a span of one month.” said John. “That’s why you’re here, … right?”
Julia, looking out along the beach said, “Were going to need more volunteers.”
“Don’t worry, we have it covered.” Said John. “It’s not heavy. It’s plastic.” … A silence overcame the volunteers. No one spoke. They were kind of shocked to see so much plastic. “Don’t worry we are going to clean this up.”
“Where do we put it?”, said Julia.
“Why in plastic bags, of course. … A local plastics company was kind enough to donate the bags. … So, this is your task today. To your left is the plastic bags. You just grab one carry it with you as you walk down the beach and when you see the plastic trash lying on the beach, you pick it up and place it in your plastic bag. … It’s simple.”
“Do we have to sort the plastic?” said Julia.
“No, the numbers don’t matter here.” Said John.
“So, it doesn’t get recycled?” said Julia, while putting her hands on her hips, like a superhero would do.
“No. it doesn’t”, said john.
“Where does it go?”
“To the land fill, not far from here.”, said John.
“That’s not right”, said Julia.
“Look … don’t look at the numbers. Just put the plastic trash in the plastic bag.” said John. The volunteers looked perplexed. … “OK, look, the numbers don’t matter here. Just … think of it this way. There are two kinds of plastic. There is good plastic then there is bad plastic. The plastic trash on the beach is bad plastic. So, we need to get the bad plastic to the land fill. … OK. So, all you have to do is put the bad plastic into the good plastic bag, then we can haul it off to the landfill. This completes the plastic life cycle.”
Suddenly all of the volunteers looked at John. Julia with a questioning face said, “What’s the difference between good plastic and bad plastic?”
John looking a little perplexed himself said, “Look, the good plastic comes from the plastic manufacturer. Once it serves its purpose, it becomes bad plastic. Look out over the beach. All that plastic is no longer needed. It has served its purpose. And now. … It has become bad plastic. We have to complete the cycle and get it to the landfill. This is where, you all come in. Volunteering here is greatly appreciated by the town and the plastic manufacturers. They are extremely grateful. Believe me. Bad plastic on the beach deters tourist from coming here. … So, since we all understand what we are doing, grab the good plastic bag and let’s have some fun putting the bad plastic into it.”
“Does the good plastic bag become bad plastic?” said Julia, perplexed.
“Yes, the good plastic bag will become bad plastic when it has ended its purpose and is in the landfill.” said John starting to feel that maybe, the volunteers will get to work.
“Ok, so once the good plastic bag is full, then where to we put it?” said Julia.
“Oh yea! I forgot about that. Just haul it over to the pickup truck, you know the one with the plastic bumpers and plastic molding panels in the interior. … great guys, you will feel good volunteering today. You can say to your friends you completed the plastic life cycle, and you removed the bad plastic from the beach. Look if it weren’t for the plastic manufacturer donating the good plastic bags, we would have a long day cleaning up. That’s why the plastic bag is good plastic. … Now let’s get going”. said John.
Julia looked up at me and said, “I am glad to complete the plastic life cycle. It gives me meaning. Just look at all this bad plastic.” And started to reach for the good plastic bag.
10 years prior: In the sales department of a large plastics corporation, somewhere in America.
“Look I got this idea. People love to volunteer. It gives them a good, warm feeling inside. I don’t know how to explain it. It just does. …
But this is what we do. We make plastic bags. …
I say we conjure up a plastic life cycle scheme, to convince people to clean up the plastic for us. We need to explain, that there are two types of plastic, good and bad, and that plastic needs to complete its life cycle. That’s right, all we have to do is donate some plastic bags to volunteers. Drive them to the beach and then they will pick up the plastic trash on the beach. …
You see the good plastic bags we donate so graciously, will be good press and will be used to help the trash pickup movement people pick up the bad plastic. …
Look, we know that plastic recycling doesn’t work, and the bad plastic is going to start washing ashore in the next few months. And you know it’s going to be very costly for us to pick it up. …
So, why not combine the volunteers feel good feeling with the pickup trash movement. Add the plastic life cycle scheme with the donated plastic bags. We get good media coverage for donating the good plastic bags, and we convince everyone that bad plastic needs to have its life cycle completed, and …
Wala. Clean beaches. …
But wait, it gets even better. …
We don’t have to pay for cleaning the plastic trash on the beaches. What’s a few million more bags going to cost us. We produce a hundred million a year anyways.”, John said. A new sales intern, always looking for ways to get hired full time.
“John! … Now I know why you were selected to be our sales intern.” said Arthur, the director of sales. “That’s a brilliant plan. Let’s write this up and give it to the marketing department and the president.