Jeanne Cusson lives in Concord.

There is a story about puppies floating down a river in baskets. People are seen frantically trying to pull them out, one by one. Then one gal decides to go upriver and find out where they are all coming from. She finds the source, has the culprits arrested and the problem is solved. People no longer have to rescue puppies one by one.

How you may ask, is this related to plastic? It begs the question, why is so much of what we use today made of plastic or hermetically sealed in plastic? I recall the 1968 classic The Graduate when Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) is counseled by a neighbor who clearly wants to let him know where the money is in his future. One word: plastics.

Having grown up in New Hampshire without any single-use plastic available (and miraculously survived) I know firsthand that plastic is not essential to life on earth. How did we get to the point where plastic is ubiquitous? If we follow the petroleum industry (the source) it becomes quite clear. During the mid-70s, when cars became more fuel efficient and the petroleum industry was feeling the pinch, the industry needed to find ways to increase profits. Hence plastics. More and more plastic was being produced to the point where plastic bags were everywhere and millions of items were sealed in plastic. I now have to go for my lawn shears to break into all the packaging, none of which is recyclable.

So, back to our puppy story. Concord TV ran a program a few weeks ago where city councilors and managers were grappling with the city’s trash problem, and the new trash collection contract it faces in the next 18 months. There were few answers provided, but one councilor put the solution squarely in the hands of the citizens: reduce the amount of trash you put out each week.

But why were all the baskets full of puppies? Why are all our bins full of trash? The source, the petroleum/plastic industry, is out of control and there is nothing our city, our state, or our nation is doing about it. Given the current composition of Congress, there is little point in turning to the federal government for help. Governor Sununu has often said, “Washington always finds a way to mess things up.” Please look in your own backyard, Governor Sununu. It is we, you and I, who are messing things up.

Eight states have banned the use of single-use plastic bags. Is New Hampshire one of them? Ten states have bottle deposit refunds. Is New Hampshire one of them? And is our governor leading the way to convince Congress to enact laws that prohibit the encasement of everything from pens to plastic toys in plastic? This certainly adds more cost to the product. Who pays? We do. And who profits? The source.

We are being duped into believing that recycling works, and are participating in the destruction of the planet. Plastic does not go away. It breaks down into tiny particles of microplastic that are ingested by birds, fish, animals, and us. And once ingested, by any creature, it does not pass through a body, it remains there. What is equally harmful is when plastic trash is incinerated, discharging toxic fumes into the air. We, the citizens of Concord, are compounding the problem by adding thousands of purple plastic bags to landfills or incinerators each weekday.

One final note. Our city councilors have stated that they do not want to use plant-based bags for trash for two reasons. First, they are more expensive. We know, however, that the more they are produced, the lower the cost. For $13, I purchase 45 plant-based trash bags that hold as much as the smaller purple plastic bags, and that lasts me a year since I produce little trash in the warmer months when I compost. The second reason the councilors provided is that plant-based bags do not decompose much in landfills. Nothing decomposes much in the landfills. But at least they do not leach toxins, and when they do break down, it is not microplastic.

I like to believe Benjamin did not listen to his neighbor’s counsel.

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