Do you remember all those times you threw recyclable items such as plastic bags in the trash or walked across them and did not pick them up? Well, you are contributing to massive ongoing issues in our world. Plastic misuses are terminating life as we know it. What companies are doing today is absolutely diminishing the earth’s health everyday dramatically. If companies began adapting environmental friendly packaging it would help the world become much more healthier. Costco is an astonishing example of what companies can do since they have been following environmentally friendly recycling practices for years now.
According to the article “The World Counts”, “This year 5 trillion plastic bags will be consumed. That’s 160,000 a second! Put one after another they would go around the world 7 times every hour and cover an area twice the size of France”. The number of plastic bags being used per year is incomprehensible. The majority of the plastic will result in seas across the world, ecosystems, lakes, landfills, in trees and often will be consumed by animals. Many of us have such busy days that we won’t even realize that we need recycling and how those little things are affecting the world on a daily basis. Recycling is a process and can be stressful but our world needs it now.
For companies to begin to endorse environmental friendly recycling would be an enormous step forward to helping sustain the planet. Costco is a lead example of what can be done. For starters they use square boxing for packaging so that it fits more into a freight truck. With this, there are hundreds of trailers used less which leads to less carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases going into the air. Not only that, but they use the boxes they receive their products in to give back to customers and store their merchandise in them instead of plastic bags. Costco also simply does not throw away their left over foods. Alternatively, they use it to make their own compost. Compost is rich in nutrients and microorganisms that enhance plants; composting is a win-win. Likewise, Costcos restrooms have a “low-flow” system that saves forty percent more water than a normal bathroom would. They also don’t use clamshells in an effort to use less plastic. Instead products are packed in cards or blister packs and by doing this they have reduced plastic use in packaging by thirty percent. What Costco has done to help the environment prosper is a remarkable way that many companies can follow for the sake of earth’s health.
Recycling in companies is something that the earth desperately needs. Doing so will take time but it will be completely worth it. Companies need to begin taking these steps because if they don’t it will eventually start to bring more noticeable and permanent damage to the world. Today we are seeing so many signs and facts about the misuses of plastic in our world yet most will ignore them. Costco’s sustainability practices are prodigious to taking a step to maintain the world. Going green is what has to be done to assure that the world prospers again.
Essay by: Emily Castro
Camelback High School