Dirty plastic secret

After watching the Fifth Estate’s recent broadcast on Canada’s dirty secret, I am truly ashamed about our handling of plastic waste. Only a fraction is recycled, and the rest is hidden in container ships and sent to poor countries, who are the least equipped to deal with it. This waste ends up on the ground, some of it is burned creating toxic smoke that makes people sick, and some of it ends up in the ocean in the ever-growing sea of plastic waste. The federal government is well aware of the problem and is encouraging suppliers and Canadians to stop using single-use plastics. This is not good enough. We need to immediately stop this horrible practice of shipping our plastic garbage to poor countries. The next piece of recyclable plastic that I have in my hand — and I will be doing my absolute best to stop buying and using disposable plastics — will be going into the garbage can where it will end up in our landfill, not in some poor unsuspecting developing country. It is not a solution but until we stop this despicable practice, it is a better option.

Shirley Dodman, Burlington