Plastic, Plastic Everywhere

The level of plastics in landfills - and in us - requires our attention.

By Bruce Saller
COLUMNIST

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

The amount of plastic waste being discarded into our landfills and waterways continues to increase.

It takes hundreds of years for plastic bottles and straws to breakdown. Microplastics are now showing up in our food and beverages. A study on how much plastic is in a plastic bottle of water found an average of 10,000 pieces of micro-plastics (> 1 micro-meter) and 100,000 pieces of nano-plastics (< 1 micro-meter). Studies are being conducted to determine the effects of these plastics on humans, but we can assume that consuming all that plastic is not a good thing. So how can we help?

Most importantly, reduce your plastic usage:

1. Use a metal water bottle and fill from your tap vs buying plastic bottles.

2. Buy other liquids in glass, aluminum or carboard containers.

3. Don’t use plastic straws. Use paper ones if necessary.

4. Bring your own containers to restaurants to carry home any leftovers.

5. Utilize reusable bags instead of plastic bags at stores.

6. Refill your plastic containers for laundry detergent, liquid soap, etc. instead of buying new ones. You can do this at the Filagreen store at 716 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg. See their website for all their products. (Most refills will also save you money.)

Recycle all the allowable plastic items.

When possible, buy items containing recycled plastic. These include furniture, clothing, plastic items, and carpets. Labels should say “Made with recycled content," "Made with recycled plastic," "Post-consumer recycled plastic" or "100% recycled plastic."

Everyone must do their part to help solve this problem.

Local Obituaries

To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.

Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism

The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:

• First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.

• First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.

• First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project

Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:

• Drew Gallagher — Humorist

• Dennis Wemm — Theatre Critic

• Hank Silverberg — Transportation

• Bruce Saller — Environment

• Loraine Paige — Food and Business

And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).

• For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.

Your contributions 100% support our journalists.

Help us as we continue to grow!

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”