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Page A-8 — Shelton-Mason Journal Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020
Coronavirus compounds world’s waste mess
hat happens in China doesn’t
s; always stay in China. We learned
‘ that a couple of years ago when
the Chinese stopped buying massive vol-
umes of the world’s used paper, plastics
and textiles, and, again last March when
the coronavirus escaped Wuhan and
spread across the planet.
Like other nations, China is struggling
with the deadly COVID-19 virus and suf-
focating under mountains of trash its resi-
dents generate each day. Wuhan hospi-
tals generated six times as much medical
waste at the peak of the outbreak as they did before
the crisis began. The daily output'of medical waste
reached 240 metric tons, about the weight of an
adult blue whale.
- While the pandemic has- dramatically improved
air quality because people are working from home
and not commuting, it has been a headache for re—
cyclers. It has inundated household waste collectors
with more recyclables than they can possible han-
dle. As a consequence, two-thirds of our recyclables
Inow end up in landfills.
Markets for spent plastics are feeble and munici-
pal governments, which operate the preponderance
of recycling programs, struggle to fund recycling
collection, sorting and storage.
One of the biggest coriundrums is finding mar-
kets for single-use plastics such as grocery bags,
water and soda bottles, and takeout food contain—
ers. Styrofoam and plastic food box use
rose sharply as indoor dining stopped and
restaurants resorted to take-out.
Dave Ford wrote in Scientific American:
“And while takeout has been the saving
grace for many restaurants, it’s also con-
tributing to the growing heap of single-use
plastic globally. Much of this kind of plas-
tic is not recyclable. 2020 is on pace to see
30 percent more waste than 2019.”
According to Reuters, an extra 1,334
tons of plastic waste, equivalent to the
weight of 92 double-decker buses, was
generated from takeaway and delivery meals in
Singapore during the two-months of stay-home
restrictions. The National University of Singapore
' study was conducted at a time when environmental
efforts, such as bring-your—own—container schemes,
had ground to a halt because of fear of COVID-19
contamination. ,
Since last March, medical waste shot up as well.
COVID-19 triggered an estimated global use of
129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every
month since March. “If we stitched together all of
the masks manufactured already, and projected to
be produced, we’d be able to cover the entire land
mass of Switzerland,” Ford added.
The other glitch is more rubbish is making its
way into'streams, lakes and oceans. Ford wrote:
“Eight million metric tons of plastic waste enter
the oceans every year. This equates to one gar-
bage truck’s worth of plastic being dumped into
our oceans every minute. The total weight is the
equivalent of '90 aircraft carriers and models project
that by 2050, there will be more plastic by weight
than fish in the oceans.”
The garbage difficulty is getting worse worldwide
and the coronavirus has acerbated the situation.
Every year we collectively dump a 2.12 billion tons
of waste. If all this waste was put on trucks they
would go around the world 24 times. By 2035 the
World Bank estimates trash volumes will increase
by 70 percent to 3.4 billion tons.
China has the most serious trash issue as its
fast-paced economy expands. It surpassed the US
as the world’s largest waste generator in 2004. By
2030 the country will likely produce twice as much
municipal solid waste as the United States.
The trash problem, like the coronavirus, does not
recognize international boundaries. It is a global
environmental ticking time bomb just as important
as climate change. Covid-19 has made the situation
worse.
Let’s hope increasted attention and “good old
American ingenuity” can lead us to better solutibns.
I Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and
columnist. He recently retired as president of the
Association of Washington Business, the state’s old-
est and largest business organization, and now lives
‘ in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@
msn.com.
’ LEITEHSfcohtinuedmtrom page M
False hate
assumptions
Editor, the Journal,
Did anyone else'find off putting Mr.
Mullen’s “Olive branch of hate” letter
in the Sept. 10 Journal? It seems Mr.
Mullen’s train has finally left (false
hate assumptions) the track. Mr. Mul-
len has called Mr. Graham a Russian
spy (defamation) and now continues
with false accusations of hate.
I would hope in the future Mr.
Mullen sticks to writing about issues
rather than illuminating and expos-
ing his own hate and bias. Stick to the
issues like vote Democratic for more
taxes versus vote Republican for more
jobs.
The Sept. 10 Journal lead, “Duel-
ing protests clash” was misleading.
The Back the Blue‘was a rally, not
' a protest. A rally is for something,
supporting the police. A protest by
definition is against something. BLM
protests to defund and to dismantle
the police and to selectively demonize
the police. ‘
Irene Graham
Union
It’s about priorities
Editor, the Journal,
Weekly, for the last several
months, there have been double-
digit shootings in Chicago and New
York City; 100-plus nights of riots in
Partland with massive destruction;
attempted and successful assassina-
tions of cops nationwide; and threats
by the Post Office to stop delivering
mail to some sections of some cities
because of violence. All this death and
destruction and Ms. Patricia Hawley
decided my “rambling, almost inco-
herent fantasy” (her words) about an
entitled young woman verbally at-
tacking a black police officer was fake;
thus worthy of criticism. This is your
priority, Patricia?
This verbal attack on a Black po-
lice officer actually happened. Dur-
ing the CHOP episode in Seattle,
KOMO-TV, Channel 4, broadcast this
confrontation. I saw a young white
woman using gutter language; her
profanity aimed at a middle-aged
Black police officer. Even though
KOMO bleeped out language, I heard
her clearly tell this Black man that
“he was a traitor to his race.” Her
whole demeanor screamed upper-mid-
dle class, white privileged and left-
wing university indoctrination. She
had no experience being Black and
little real-world experience, but she
assumed she knew it all. Her attitude
was a combination of ignorance, arro-
gance and bigotry. Sorry Patricia, this
was no “incoherent fantasy.”After this
fakery accusation, Patricia explained
her “I hate Trump” revulsion and her
“I love Biden” enthusiasm. She asked
if it was OK for the current president
to blame the previous president for
the political mess left behind. Trump
blamed Obama; Obama blamed Bush;
Bush blamed Clinton; ad nauseam.
This is swamp politics. Want better
politics, Patricia? Support term limits
for Congress; get citizen legislators
rather than professional politicians.
Mike Bloomberg, New York" City
billionaire politician, is donating
$100,000,000 to Biden’s campaign.
'I love it when liberals say they will
not take corporate campaign dollars
then they 'take mega $$$ from the
New York uber-rich, Hollywood elites
and Silicon Valley moguls. If liber-
als truly want money out of politics,
they should accept no donatiohs above
$100. Liberals say one thing while do-
ing the other, hoping nobody’s watch-
mg.
President Donald Trump has
two major international successes
at achieving peace in the Middle
East. Trump has been nominated
for a Nobel Peace Prize. Twice. The
Olympian newspaper (no right-wing
publication) said, “In 2009 President
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace
I'M JUST
MACHINE, NOT
THE DEVIL'S
SPAWN NOR DO
I CAUSE CANCER.
" s. ‘fW
Prize, apparently on the grounds of
good intentions and great expecta-
tions. Looking at the present moment,
Trump actually deserves one.” (The
Olympian, Wednesday, September
16, page 7A — Opinion). Check it out,
Patricia.
Ardean Anvik
Shelton
We have a
clear choice
Editor, the Journal,
This will be the most important
election in the history of the United
States. There is so much to say, but I
want to make this as short and to the
point as possible.
1. Even if you don’t particularly
like Joe Biden or some of his policies
and proposals, it is critically impor-
tant that Donald Trump be defeated.
Our country simply cannot endure
another four years of a Trump presi-
dency. To make your choice, all you
really need to know is that Biden is
essentially a person of good charac-
ter, with a moral compass, who cares
about his fellow human beings and
Trump is not. V
2. Some of my friends are planning
to vote for a third candidate, or nei-
ther. However, by trying to “make a
statement” in this way, they are wast-
ing a vote, or effectively giving a vote
to Trump. Either Biden or Trump will
be elected, so you must vote for one
or the other. And you must vote this
time as if lives depend on it, because
they do.
3. Finally, we must finish. the job
of reforming our electoral process and
eliminating the Electoral College. It is
inconceivable that Trump was elected
with 3 million fewer votes than Clin-
ton. If you believe in democracy as I
do, that’s just fundamentally wrong.
Friends, in this era- of no fans in
the stands, let us all step up to the
plate and do the job we' know needs to
be done.
Steve Hecht
Grapeview
Call us today at 360—426—4412 or visit masoncounty.com to subscribe.
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