Reuse our refuse
The onset of the Olympics reminds me that the world is a big place. That fourteen-hour offset in coverage times, for example. Meanwhile, my own world has shrunk; I now spend almost all of my days and nights in the front half of a two acre estate.
However, CBC Marketplace just gave me a nudge in the ribs. Even if my personal footprint is small, my environmental one is larger than life. For example, my old clothes. To be fair, I’ve got a wardrobe that serves me well, now that my public persona is on the shelf. A lot of tee-shirts. So, where do the old tees go to “die”?
I’m not sure. If I’m like the majority of my neighbours (on a national basis), the biomass goes to Africa. Some serves as apparel, but the larger part goes to landfill, where the fibres smolder until ashed. The TV footage showed familiar logos, everywhere. Not my stuff (I’m one that dresses blandly) but my neighbours…
The documentary pointed out why the world has a problem. Too much, too cheap. Disposable clothing, with no next user policy attached. Even the shops that brag about their “recycling effort” are failing. And, in the same way that the world is tired of our bales of blue-bagged plastics, there’s a growing movement around the globe to refuse our refuse.
Interim: when my next tee is too holey to wear, I’m to recycle it into household cleaning materials. And when that step is done… haven’t worked that part through, yet. Any good ideas?
