JOSH WYMYCZAK & ROXANA ASTEMBORSKI/Photo Editor & Art Editor
BRITTANY YEAROUT
Assistant News Editor
People in the Malibu community will start seeing additional recycling bins and educational displays saying “Plastics. Too Valuable to Waste. Recycle.” California State Parks, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Keep California Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, have created a partnership for beach cleanup and plastics recycling.
“We want to try to develop a culture in the United States where it is unacceptable to litter,” said Sharon Kneiss, the products division vice president of ACC. “We are very excited by this opportunity to address a challenge in the environment and we are really pleased to be able to partner with such great partners. And we look forward to other opportunities to continue to work this program.”
Some people say littering and not recycling has been a big issue in the past. Senior Andrea Monroe said the new effort will help.
“I think the beaches in Malibu are not as clean as they should be compared to the beaches in Orange County and more people even tend to go to there,” Monroe said. “So what they are doing will definitely benefit the beaches in some way or another.”
Hoping their slogan will be just as memorable as “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.,” the new public-private partnership is working to deliver more recycling bins to beaches, to communicate the benefits and the sustainability of plastics and to improve litter control. They have already started placing bins at the Malibu beaches.
“Plastics are valuable resources and they have second and third lives and when you recycle plastics you can recycle them into fleece clothing, building and construction equipment or a gardening tool,” Kneiss said.
Kneiss said the only way this plan works is through partnership. While ACC supplies the bins, the other two partners provide access to communication channels, the beaches and make sure the bins get emptied out and cleaned.
“To encourage people and make them more aware and easier for them to recycle in public beaches, we are placing bins on beaches, making radio ads and putting our slogan on busses and billboards,” Kneiss said.
ACC, a trade association that represents the chemical industry that manufactures the plastic, is funding the new partnership program, which is part of ACC’s $3.5 million that goes to helping Californians recycle.
“We are doing this because recycling is an important activity for everybody,” Kneiss said. “Plastics don’t belong on the beaches and they don’t belong in the ocean. The concept is, let’s articulate the value of plastics, they are essentially used in everyday life. ACC wants to be a part of the solution, we don’t want to be a part of the problem.”
More than 80 percent of U.S. households have access to a recycling program, but still the demand for recycled plastics is exceeding the availability of supply, according to the partnership’s news release. And the new partnership is the first extensive public education program that motivates park visitors to recycle plastics instead of just throwing them in the nearest trash can.
“It is important to remember that in the next 10 to 15 years the population for the state of California is going to double that means twice as many people will put in twice the demands on our environment,” said Spokesman for California State Parks Roy Sterns. “That means if we want the California tomorrow to be the beautiful place that it is today, we need to pay attention and do all possible to preserve the beauty around us.”
Sterns also said a big contributor to the amount of plastic being used today is the boom in people buying water bottles.
“In the last 10 years we have all decided that bottled water is the best thing, they have become the rage,” Sterns said. “It is almost like a cell phone, it is part of the uniform, and if you don’t have a water bottle or a cell phone you are not in. Most people put the bottle in the trash but it will be even better if they recycle them so that we can reuse them.”
About 14.4 million tons of plastics of waste are generated by Americans today, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Nevertheless, many Americans are starting to recycle. In 2000, about 30 percent of the waste produced by Americans was recycled.
Yet recycling has been going on for many years, and Sterns said the problem is that people don’t take it seriously but students have the power to change it.
“Students are the future leaders of America,” Sterns said. “They need to buy into these programs and push them even harder than us adults. Spread the word, make it cool to recycle, make it cool to love the outback of California. There is a heck of a lot of students that have hiking boots and kayaks and all need to spread the word to protect the environment. Life is too short to only hike through Nordstrom.”
Senor Sarah Nemecek said the new partnership will definitely encourage students to recycle more, because although there are plenty of ways to recycle at home there isn’t much at public places.
“I think that what they are doing is great. I recycle at home but at the beach I usually bring my trash home because there is no place to recycle,” Nemecek said.
However, not all of the Pepperdine students care. Junior Carl Smith said it is important for public places such as the beach to be clean and have trash cans nearby, but said people won’t take advantage of the recycling bins.
“I don’t care if it is a recycled trash can or not,” Smith said. “It is important to recycle but it takes a conscious effort and people won’t do it because they are selfish and irresponsible.”
According to ACC, males ages 18 to 34 tend to not recycle and litter the most. Also, although a plastic bag found on the beach may not be a big deal, it can lead to bigger issues, according to Becky Lyons, the senior vice president of training and affiliate services for Keep America Beautiful.
“It may seem like a soft issue on the surface, but unkept areas give a signal that no one cares and further signs of neglect only tend to increase the downward spiral of the neighborhood. So recycle and at least throw it in the trash,” Lyons said.
02-14-2007
