Earth Friends work to make a difference
Pine Island Earth Friends formed a couple years ago when several of its current members got together and realized they didn’t know enough to keep the earth’s environment, and Pine Island’s in particular, safe and wanted to learn.
According to Barb Darling, it took a year for them to determine their focus: reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. Their mission is to produce less garbage; to use less water, energy, and fuel; to respect the animals who share our earth, to honor best practices and refuse to exploit workers in our consumer choices, and to save money and become more healthy through our choices.
The group has no formal officers. Darling acted as facilitator for meetings for the first year and a half. That role is now being taken by Diane Maher. Julie Talmadge assists, but all members must take an active part. Each one offers to research a specific topic and bring information back to share with the group. Topics have included vermiculture, Certified Fair Trade, and proper disposal of medications.
The group meets the third Wednesday of the month at 10 a.m. but places vary. They are in search of a permanent home base.
“We have no dues so we can’t pay for a location,” Darling said.
Besides its internally generated reports, the meetings sometimes involve field trips. They have been to Lee County’s recycling center and the Waste to Energy facility. According to Darling, Lee residents have a reason to be proud. The Solid Waste Association of North America selected Lee County’s Solid Waste Division as the best in the nation for its excellence in managing solid waste.
“Very little of Lee County’s trash goes into landfills,” Darling said. “Most of it is recycled or burned.”
On Nov. 17, Talmadge will discuss what to do with old clothing and fabric. Maher will offer tips about recycling glass. All are welcome.
For more information call Diane Maher at 282-8804.
Here are some important facts about plastic bags courtesy of Marty Kendall:
– about 80 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are used each year in the United States (American Chemistry Council)
– most plastic bags don’t decompose in landfills because they are made of polyethylene; microorganisms don’t recognize them as food
– degradable plastic won’t degrade in a landfill as there is no light; they may contain greenhouse gas
– new plastic bags are better than new paper bags; they take less than 4 percent of the water to produce, they are made from domestic natural gas instead of petroleum;
– but it’s still better to recycle than produce new because recycled bags can be made into many products, thus reducing the amount of new resources needed to manufacture such things as composite lumber, pallets, containers, piping, floor tiles, buckets, flower pots and fencing
– non recycled bags often find their way into our waters and are fatal to marine life; turtles, for instance, see them as their favored delicacy, jellyfish
– Winn-Dixie recycles the plastic bags we return to them into “new” bags; Publix also recycles bags returned to them into reusable products; recycle only clean, dry bags and remove the receipts; newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags, bread bags, produce bags, wraps from tp, napkins and paper towels, Zip Lock bags, and any bags labeled #2 or #4 can be returned to the store
– dispose of non-recyclable plastic in your trash; it’s a good accelerant in Lee County’s Waste to Energy program; however be creative about using the bags several times before trashing them: reuse for grocery shopping, scoop pet waste into them, use as small trashcan liners or as packing material when shipping a box, tie up garden plants, donate them to animal shelters/kennels/veterinarians for “potty clean-up,” ask your library or local thrift shop if they can use them.
The best solution is to avoid using plastic bags to begin with. Make or purchase reusable canvas bags for all your shopping needs, not just groceries; they’re stronger and hold more than the plastic bags. Many areas in the world have banned the use of plastic bags. What about us, Pine Island?