COLLINS – Government needs to be a lot tougher on plastics

WE HAVE BEEN SO AFRAID to tackle climate change issues we’ve let things get to a crisis stage. One of the worst examples involves our use of plastics.

Decades ago, we thought plastics were the answer to everything. The ability to use plastics for just about everything spurred us on. Cheaper than metal, able to be molded to just about any shape. We’ll use it for cutlery, straws, you name it. Thin bags for groceries, a film for single-use cups to make them strong. More profit for business.

And when we’re done, we’ll just stuff them in the landfill.

When we finally realized what we were doing, it was almost too late. And no one wanted to lead the charge against what was now becoming a huge source of pollution. Landfills were being inundated, so we started to think differently.

We started to try to make the plastics biodegradable, but haven’t progressed very far.

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Doug Collins is the Director of News, Information and Television Operations at CFJC-TV. Doug has been on the air in Kamloops since 1970. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada in 2008.