My family fully supports Lexington’s goals and strategies for reducing solid waste. We were early adopters of Black Earth Composting, long before the town was offering free subscriptions. We began shopping at Center Goods as soon as the shop opened. We have not purchased a new plastic container of hand soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, or dishwasher detergent since Center Goods opened.

I started this letter by referring to “reducing solid waste”—not eliminating it—here’s why.

When we first moved to Lexington, we bought an electric lawn mower with a rechargeable battery. When the battery finally gave out, we wanted to be environmentally friendly. We took apart the lawnmower so we could remove the battery for recycling. We did the same when the batteries for our electric leaf blower, our electric snowblower, and our electric edger died. We had also been saving old bike helmets, accumulated over more than 30 years. As a result, we ended up with almost thirty pounds of hard plastic that sat in our garage for years, in the vain hope that the town’s zero-waste champions would offer an environmentally friendly way to dispose of it.  

At the beginning of May, we finally put that hard plastic out for trash removal. As we know, there were two possible destinations for that plastic. It may have ended up at the incinerator, where it would have been released as toxic smoke drifting toward Lowell and Lawrence—both designated environmental justice communities. The other possible destination was a far away landfill. Landfills are disproportionally located near low-income, non-white communities.

I have raised the issue of disposal of hard plastic several times with the town’s zero-waste champions, most recently during a panel discussion at the town’s sustainability fair, held last March. I have yet to receive an answer that gives me any hope that these champions are even thinking about this issue, let alone providing a solution.

Before we spend any more time getting ourselves on another list or passing toothless bans to send a message to the state legislature, let’s focus on a solution—or at least the hope of a solution—to the problem of disposing of hard plastic in an environmentally friendly manner. It’s time for a practical solution to a real problem.

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