Where does our waste go? How effective is recycling? Can we do more? There are many greenwashing gimmicks. Recycling bottles and other plastic means recycling toxic chemicals. Discover the reality, limits, and consequences of disposability and the myth of recycling. We will discuss landfills, incineration, chemical or “advanced” recycling, the illicit plastic trade, the US lack of participation in the Basel Convention, the Kigali Amendment, and our growing waste’s health and environmental impacts.
Guest Speakers
Maureen McCarthy – FoCo Trash Mob – Panera Campaign. Maureen worked at her County’s Landfill and then at her City’s Recycling Center for over 12 years as a recycling specialist/volunteer coordinator. During that time, she noticed an upward spike in single-use plastics, and a lot of confusion followed about which plastics were recyclable, where they would get recycled, and what they were being recycled into. She found that the messaging became increasingly impossible. When the umpteenth person waved another clamshell in her face, yelling, “What do you mean this isn’t recyclable? It says so right here!” …while pointing to the chasing arrows, she decided to join the Beyond Plastics movement. Her affiliate is called “FoCo Trash Mob.” We nudge corporations to “Cut the SUPs!”
Sandy Field – Sandy Field, Ph.D., is the chair of the Climate Reality Project: Susquehanna Valley PA chapter and an organizer for the Save our Susquehanna group that is fighting the Encina plastics waste processing facility in Point Township, Pennsylvania (https://saveoursusquehanna.org). She has a background in biochemistry and works as a freelance science and medical writer from a home office in Lewisburg, PA.
