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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 24, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 24, 2020
 
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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. \IA‘ OH?!) {DiO < L1"'U"d