OVER THE (NEXT) HILL

A hard pill to swallow

Getting the pill out of the package is just the first irritation with prescription meds.

BY GAIL GRANT

Packaging. The word comes out as a snarl, and I feel my anger uncoiling.

Yes, there are far more worrisome things in the world, but product packaging is a problem, and for me, it’s one that becomes more annoying as the years go by. Partly because I’ve become shorter on patience, but also because, with age (and a touch of arthritis), my strength and dexterity have diminished. A perfect storm when faced with an industry that seems determined to keep customers at arm’s length from products.

When was the last time you tried to open an item packaged in fused cardboard and plastic? Did you clear the room with language far beyond “fuddle duddle”? Venting like that is totally justifiable, in my opinion.

I even bought a specific tool designed to make attacking today’s packaging easy for everyone. Ha! I won’t tell you how long it took me to wrestle that gismo out of its own packaging – or how loud the process was.

Once a month I take a pill that’s supposed to keep my bones strong. It’s a tiny pill, about half the size of the nail of my baby finger. This single pill comes in a box larger than my hand. In the box is a sheet of paper that, when unfolded, more than covers this magazine. It tells me I should take the pill on the same day every month, what’s in it (ingredients impossible to pronounce), and what might happen to me when I take it. In both official languages, of course.

Also in the box is a heavy foil rectangle, about two inches by three inches, encased in clear plastic. Within this rectangle sits the pill. I estimate that in the course of a year, this pill produces enough garbage and recyclable waste to fill a wheelbarrow. Over the nearly 20 years I’ve been taking it, the mound would likely fill the cargo bed of a Ford F150.

Thinking about this garbage mound in global terms is mind-numbing.

And then there’s the issue of getting my hands on the three medications I take regularly.

Writer Gail Grant estimates that over a year the packaging for the tiny monthly pill she takes would fill a wheelbarrow.

SN A P SHO T | MEE T A C OMMUNI T Y ELDER

Cheryl Russel

If there were a Guinness Book of Records for local municipal engagement, Cheryl Russel would have a star entry. Cheryl estimates she has attended 90 per cent of Mulmur council meetings over the past 11 years, often as the only private citizen in the chambers.

“This gives me enough history to follow patterns and be up to speed on whatever issues are being discussed,” she says.

At 74, Cheryl is just now hitting her stride. She is the recently appointed chair of the local police service board, vice-chair of its roads safety committee and, for the past five years, a board member of MC2, the Mono Mulmur Citizens’ Coalition, formed to represent the interests of the citizens of the Town of Mono and Mulmur Township.

She serves as editor of MC2’s bimonthly bulletins, which keep residents informed on what’s happening locally, plus produces The Look Out, the organization’s semi-annual newsletter which provides a more detailed analysis of local issues.

Focused primarily on land use and the wise management of taxpayer dollars, Cheryl views her role in monitoring council as a way of keeping the community informed about the work of elected officials.

“My father inspired my interest in local politics. He believed that the local level was the most important, and made it clear that he expected me to pay attention,” she says.

Longtime Mulmur residents, Cheryl and her husband, Hugh, had raised their two children in the township’s scenic hills. Retired from nursing and then

Ontario’s drug benefit plan for seniors allows pharmacies to dispense only a 100-day supply of each medication. As hard as I try to synchronize my prescription renewals, the pickup schedule never quite works out. So I make prescription runs to Orangeville about every six weeks, spewing toxins along the way.

And let’s talk about those little hardplastic pill bottles. I have three on the go at all times. Though Dufferin County accepts nearly all prescription pill bottles and their caps for recycling, the situation is a little different in Caledon, where prescription containers smaller than 50 ml go directly to garbage, as do all caps. Those larger than 50 ml go to recycling, where they have a chance at a second life. Some pharmacies will take them back, but as I understand it, the containers simply join the general recycling from the pharmacy. No sterilization and reuse, FYI.

How many of these little bottles are in your cupboard? And your neighbours’ cupboards? What does that waste add up to provincially? Globally?

Myra Hird, a professor at the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University, told CBC that, in Canada, less than 10 per cent of plastics are recycled. The federal government fingers single-use products and packaging as the worst offenders in creating plastic waste, estimating they make up nearly half the 3 million tonnes of plastic waste produced annually in Canada. Now that’s downright depressing.

But when it comes to packaging, pharmaceuticals aren’t my only bugbear. Opening the hard-to-grasp twist-top of the non-dairy coffee creamer I use is another frustration. Whenever it’s time to unseal a new container, I find myself heading to the toolbox for a pair of pliers.

And isn’t it about time we did away with the toothpaste tube? It has been around since 1892 and requires its own box, solely for in-store display purposes. I’ve always thought toothpaste tubes are ugly, and for this reason alone, I’m loyal to upright, flip-top dispensers. I’m considering taking the next step and using only baking soda.

That said, I have no intention of switching to boxed wine, and I’m grateful to have found both reds and whites in screw-top bottles I can open with the help of nutcrackers, a deep breath and a good grip. And I’m happy to report I mastered the art of popping bubbly corks many years ago.

I don’t have answers to any of this, except perhaps to suggest that the packaging industry direct some of its resources toward reducing its contributions to our landfills.

And thanks for letting me vent. It’s allowed my anger to drop from a rolling boil to a sort of simmer, and that’s good for my high blood pressure.

Gail Grant is a happily retired senior who lives in Palgrave.

Cheryl Russel says her father inspired her interest in local politics and “made it clear that he expected me to pay attention.”

supply teaching, and keen to give back to her community, Cheryl first started attending council meetings in 2011, when she joined the fight against an application for a gravel pit on busy Airport Road.

Then, a few years ago, Mulmur had a major problem with speeding and noise. Cheryl was instrumental in setting up community safety areas and reducing speed limits.

Among the current issues she’s tracking: “Density is a concern and the proper mix of industrial/commercial/ residential is crucial. We want to do it right for our communities.” Cheryl notes that in response to the looming housing shortage, Mulmur sanctioned second dwellings on developed properties five years ago, a move the Ontario government is just now undertaking.

“People can make a difference. You just have to get involved,” she says.

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