Exploit the garbage patch

A lot has been written on this floating junk. I had to smile at a post found at one blog that stated, ”Well, at the right density I’m about twice the size of Texas,” referring to one estimate of the size of the garbage patch. Another writer looked forward to the land bridge he would use to drive to Hawaii from his home in California.

Unfortunately, the joke is on the plastics industry since it already is being blamed for the floating garbage pile. And how has the industry reacted? Nada.

Last time I checked, the best defense is a good offense. For once, rather than fighting out of a crouch, it would be great if the plastics industry would get ahead of the game on this issue of very real concern; after all, whether you’re a tree hugger or not, any sensible person knows how valuable the health of the oceans are to our own health.

And if this floating garbage dump is full of plastics, what better industry than this one to fund a prize for the outfit that figures out how to extract the junk out of the Pacific? I mean, the ACC (American Chemistry Council) coughed up $500k to fight the plastic bag ban in Seattle, a bill that—based on local news reports—had little chance of passing anyway. By outspending the bag banner six or seven to one, all the ACC really accomplished was to look like a bully. Does the ACC have $500k to spare every time a bag ban is discussed in a major U.S. city?

It would be an clever move if the plastics industry were to take the floating public relations nightmare and turn it into a victory for the industry, or at least take away its power to taint an entire industry, and in the process draw attention to how the industry has worked to limit its scrap and to the diversity of recycling technologies that have been developed. —Matt Defosse