It has come to the attention of the citizens and administration of our community that our recycling has been, since the beginning of December, being sent to the landfill instead of being recycled. When Hillsboro started the curbside recycling program many people, including myself, were very excited at the opportunity to do our part in helping the environment and being efficient. I as well as a lot of others are quite disappointed about the community not being informed earlier about the situation.
I know that our city spent a lot of time and money making our curbside recycling a success and I hope that a solution can soon be found to keep our community doing the right thing for our Earth. I hope that we can find a company that other nearby counties are sending their recycling to and utilize them. I think that some people don’t realize the importance and need for recycling, so they aren’t considering the situation to be urgent.
Every year, 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean. According to National Geographic, at the end of last year, 91% of plastic was not recycled. So why are these things important? Plastic is the biggest issue because it does not decompose, so it is going to sit on this planet forever. It will break down into microplastics, but it will always be here. I have mentioned this before in a previous article, but microplastics, when they make their way to the ocean, are consumed by sea life. This can kill them, or, when we eat seafood, humans are eating plastic. So when it doesn’t seem like a big deal to throw your plastic in the trash or on the ground, think about how you are going to be ingesting that later on.
Plastic is infesting the once beautiful parts of the world. I personally feel that God made Earth for us to live on, and gave us this gorgeous place to call home, with wonderful sights and amazing animals. I think that it’s our job to take care of all of it for Him.
I think that the movement for pushing for a clean Earth is going to come from my generation. Not to say that others don’t care or don’t put in a lot of work, but it’s my generation and younger that has to live on this planet for the longest at this point. In 30 years, I want to still be able to breath clean air and see every animal I am seeing now. I want that for me, and for my future family. At school, to my knowledge, we only have two recycle bins in the building. A lot of kids and faculty members are throwing away plastic, paper, cans, and glass. I hope to get some students and faculty together to increase awareness and help more people to dispose of their plastics the right way. I think that if people realize that high schoolers can do it, anyone can make the extra effort.
I encourage young people, or really anyone, to reach out and send our county commissioners a letter or message about how important you think recycling is and how important it is to quickly find a solution to the problem we are having with not having a place to send our city’s recycling. If we can take the plastic that is being made and bought and turn around and make it into something else, or even avoid buying plastic when possible, we won’t have to worry as much about it hurting people, animals, or our Earth. We all have to live on this planet.
