Please join us on Sunday, September 13 for our Plastic Brand Audit. – See below for more information about what and why
WHERE: We will meet in the east end of the Henderson Road Kroger parking lot (1955 Henderson Rd, Upper Arlington, OH 43220) at 2PM. We will collect trash from the area around the headwaters of Turkey Run, a tributary of the Olentangy River.
Wear comfortable clothing and closed shoes. Bring pair of yard gloves and, of course, your mask. Doug Calem will supply the garbage bags.
Here’s what we’re going to do:
- Meet at the parking lot to review the COVID safety protocols and the Brand Audit plan;
- Collect all of the trash and place it in the garbage bags before separating out the plastics into different bags;
- Time permitting, collect trash from the alternate site, the Hudson Prairie (off of Silver Dr. opposite the NTB and Lowe’s near I-71);
- Drive to the Calem house to log the plastic data onto Brand Audit data cards;
- Discard the trash and box the plastic of the #1 brand we collect to return to the manufacturer;
- Pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.
More details to follow.
WHY:
Everyone knows about the “3 R’s of environmentalism”: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. These three guiding actions seem to apply to individuals, as if you and I are the only ones accountable for reducing waste. What about the large corporations responsible for packaging goods in single-use plastic? They created the problem. Now it’s time for them to help solve it.
The two main objectives of the Plastic Brand Audit (Sunday, September 13th @2PM) are
- to hold the plastic polluters, such as the oil and chemical companies, accountable and
- to change the narrative about plastic pollution.
The new 3 R’s are:Reveal:
Get plastic polluters to reveal how much plastic they are producing.
Reduce:
Get plastic polluters to reduce their plastic footprint.
Redesign:
Encourage the polluters to redesign their packaging to be reusable and refillable.
The Plastic Brand Audit is a small but important step in the sustained global campaign to hold the polluters accountable for the damage they do to the world in which we all live.
On Wednesday, September 9 @7:30PM, Doug Calem will host a virtual screening of the documentary The Story of Plastic..
The Story of Plastic takes a sweeping look at the man-made crisis of plastic pollution and its the worldwide effects on the health of our planet and the people who live there. Spanning three continents, the film illustrates the ongoing catastrophe by showing fields full of garbage, mountains of trash, waste-clogged rivers and seas clogged, and skies choked with the poisonous emissions from plastic production and processing. The film premiered on the Discovery Channel in May.
Please email Doug for the link to the virtual viewing and RSVP to reserve your place in the Zoom discussion following the film.
Click here to see the trailer and here to learn more about The Story of Plastic and its producers.