Last week I made a trip to the recycle center to drop off my recycles and get a truck load of free mulch for my garden. When I arrived there I was told that they had closed down their facility and were no longer accepting recycles. I was shocked and simultaneously peeved. I asked them when and if it would be opening again, but they could give me no answers. I have been begging and pleading with my daughters for years, to recycle. I wrote about the importance of it in Question Everything. I may have already mentioned how far behind this town that I am living in is, in its progression towards awakening consciousness. It has been nearly three years since I moved here and I was informed that the recycling center had only been in operation for a short time; but to my dismay, they did not take glass. Still, as I have done for years, I regularly take my recyclables to the facility. Why has it been closed? Is it only this small, backwards town, or is it the entire state that has put a halt to recycling? Is it because of the pandemic or because enough people simply do not care? Is it only here, or in the entire country? In the meantime, I have no choice but to toss all of my carefully saved recycles into the trash along with all the neighbors. It sickens me and makes me angry and makes me want to cry, but I must find answers to these questions.
While Big Pharma and the hospitals and medical industries continue to acquire more power as a result of the pandemic, those who have fought for reversing climate change and those who have campaigned and marched and demonstrated and protested in so many ways to save our environment, appear to be fighting a losing battle. I would venture that hospitals, emergency care, and doctors’ offices are without a doubt, the largest contributors to landfills, with fast food chains coming in second. Not only do they add the constant “use once and throw away” materials; they also have the drugs that wind up being flushed down toilets or leaking into the soil after having been discarded. My few bags of recycles that have accumulated over a few months’ time is as nothing compared to what these industries produce in a single hour. I am truly miffed that more importance has not been placed on this issue that is a problem worldwide. Isn’t it time for the human race to set their priorities aright? I am at least grateful that I can still get free mulch even though it often has small pieces of plastic and other trash mixed in. I can only hope that they won’t discontinue that as well.
