Recycling Never Caused a Good Business to Fail
October 8, 2008 by ThoughtRocket
Debbie and I were going for a walk this morning on the 101 overlooking Swami’s, the famous surf break. (Only surfers could call a surf spot Swami’s after a Hindu retreat that sits on the bluff. Politically correct surfers don’t exist.)
We ran into our friend, Doc, who we often meet for coffee on Saturday mornings. His daughter is in the Peace Corp. in a remote, no running water or bathrooms part of Africa. As our conversation continued, Doc told us he was a leader of the Environmental Services Department for the city of San Diego. This was amazing because ten minutes earlier Debbie was saying she wanted to do more to promote recycling in our little city. She especially wants to encourage restaurants to separate organic waste (food) from paper waste and plastics. The organic waste can be mulched at a processing center nearby. Some of the paper and plastic can be recycled. Then Doc dropped a bomb. He said our city was ready to pass an ordinance requiring recycling but that the American Chemistry Council lobbyists and P.R. team had showed up to sweet talk our city council and kill the idea because economic costs would be too high. They assert that the cost would put the restaurants out of business and the staff would lose their jobs. So it’s absolutely necessary to poison our land with plastic trash.
I am sick of this. The economic theory that we are not responsible to clean up our messes is a crazy idea. Cleaning up after ourselves is part of the real cost of doing business. Stuffing our 1000-year lasting garbage in a closet called a landfill is not cleaning up. It’s jut transferring the problem to our kids. Intelligent, thoughtful regulation creates a level playing field. If all restaurants in our beautiful city had to do it, they would. And recycling never caused a good business to fail. No it’s the meltdown of our unregulated economy that’s likely to close restaurants. So here’s what I want to know. Who are these people who get up every morning and go to work using their brains and energy to destroy the planet? For that matter, how can the tobacco industry get anyone to work for them? Are we so scared that we’ll do anything for money?
So Doc gave us the names of three city council candidates running in the November 4 election who support recycling. Debbie’s calling them to see how we can help. I think that’s the greatest thing we can do.
I’d like to see any potential candidate for President go through an interview process made up of a cross section of our society … Also, before the election, all potential players in the candidates cabinet should be identified .. Finally, NO electoral college .. Let the people decide ..
I think a lot of people are catching on to the concept of recycling. The biggest step to be taken is to just make it TOO easy to do .. If it doesn’t take a lot of effort to recycle, must people will be happy to play along …
Two comments: Gary is right regarding making things easy to do and to comply with (cost efficient and effective). Business people have a lot to think about so the easier the better, provide the map for them of how to do it. The bottom line is that each of us is 100% responsible for our own life and that each of us is connected to everyone else on this planet, so everything we do has some effect on everyone else. Let’s take our individual responsibility very seriously, our future and that of our children is literally at stake. And then let’s start open warfare on all lobbyists who definitely don’t have the public interest in mind with anything they do or advocate, A lot of the problems in this country are not all that complicated to solve when you focus your attention on the root cause level instead of hacking at the leaves (the problems) which rarely contain the seeds creating the problem.
Oh, one other thing, I agree on No Electoral College, the total number of popular votes for or against is all we need, nothing fancy that can be lobbied or manipulated. And dump all the Super Delegates too, where the hell do they come up with this crap except to pull another one over on us all.