Club would encourage less plastic use

Rita Nicholson | Copy Editor

Lynne Glass, who works at the Scott County Reuse Center, has an aunt and uncle who managed a newspaper about recycling in the 1970s.

“[They were] like old hippies, and they were involved early on with recycling,”said Glass, who works for the Scott County Reuse Centerin Scottsburg. “They were … in the beginning of it all.”

Glass’ aunt and uncle convinced her to write a fewarticles for their newspaper. She had already been mindful of what she uses due to her upbringing on a farm, but recycling was something new. In 1979, thosearticles convinced Glass to make the switch to recycling herself. Since then, she has been very aware of what she buys; she

limits the amount of plastic she buys, as well as other things like styrofoam and aerosol cans.

“I don’t buy a lot of things that come in plastic. I try to avoid as much as I can, and what I do buy that comes in plastic, like milk and liquid detergent, I can recycle…. I’ve never bought bottled water unless there was an emergency,” Glass said.

Glass’ actions, however small they may seem, are making an impact on theplanet. Saving the planet is one thing that motivates her to recycle more.

Sophomores Avery Lytle and Madelyn Gosselin share the same ideals as Glass. They are attempting to introduce a new environmentalism club to Scottsburg High School. The purpose of the club is to “teach the community and students [how] to reduce the [amount of] plastic they are using,” Lytle said.

Lytle and Gosselin were inspired by the effect that plastic pollution and polluted waterways, such as the Ohio River, have on the planet. They noticed how animals were affected by the pollution and decided to bring awareness to this problem by creating an environmentalism club.

“The plastic is hurting the sea life and the ground,” Lytle said.

Their club would help bring about a solution to the plastic problem by bringing awareness to the use of plastic and the benefits of recycling and reusing. Gosselin said the club would put more recycling bins around the school and therefore promote awareness of plastic use.

“I think [the club] would mostly make the school cleaner and make people want to recycle,” Gosselin said. Glass agreed that the club would be immensely beneficial, stating that education about how much money one could save through recycling and how recycling affects the planet would encourage people to recycle more.

“I think [theclub] would be great [and] wonderful,” she said. “I think it would have a huge impact. If [people] could see the nastiness of [the garbage and plastic] and what it does to the fish, and the animals, and us…” The negative effects of plastic heavily outweigh the benefits said Gosselin, even though she has made changes to her own life.

“I’ve been more aware of what I’ve been using and … picking more things that can be recycled instead of going into a trash can,” she said.

Clear, tough plastics

- water bottles - soft drink bottles

POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE

White or colored plastics

- milk jugs - shampoo bottles - laundry detergent

HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE

PLASTIC USAGE

BY THE NUMBERS

By Baylee ComerPlastics play an important role in every day life for the average high school student. Here are the plastics most used by the average person.

One person can use up to

72.99 lbs

of durable plastics per year.

24.27 lbs. of plastic bags, sacks and wraps are used and thrown away by only one person each year.

17.77 lbs

of plastic cups and plates are used per person every year.

In total, the average person in North America uses approximately

220 lbs.

of plastic per year.

8.98 lbs

of HDPE plastics are used per person per year. This include bottles like milk jugs for example.