Protect Sea Birds - NC Outer Banks Must Have Access to Curbside Recycling!
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Dare County Board of Commissioners and Bay Disposal & Recycling
A report by ThinkProgress says an “astronomical” number of pelagic seabirds have plastic in their guts. And this doesn’t even include birds like seagulls who spend a lot of time on land. Despite this disturbing reality, not all residents living in seaside communities, like those on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, have access to curbside recycling.
TP’s report is based on a study by the National Academy of Sciences, which concluded that 90% of birds that spend most of their time over open sea have plastic in their guts. TP also cites another study in Science Magazine earlier this year revealing that as much as “4.5% of the world’s total plastic production,” had ended up in our oceans by 2010.
Likely the quickest solution to reducing the amount of plastic washing into oceans is to recycle. Dare County on NC’s Outer Banks, which is surrounded by water, has taken steps to reduce the burden of plastic by eliminating it from local grocery bags. However residents still have to pay a private recycling company for curbside pickup, which some senior, disabled and other residents can’t afford.
Sign this petition to ask Dare County and Bay Disposal & Recycling to provide all residents access to curbside recycling to help eliminate this growing threat to our environment and wildlife.
We, the undersigned, say drastic measures must be taken to end this plastic pollution of our oceans.
As the study published in Science Magazine points out, what we know now about plastic debris polluting our oceans may just be the tip of the iceberg. So far it’s known that many seabirds are eating plastic which can kill them, and, based on sampling, that there is enough plastic getting into our oceans to “cover every foot of coastline on the planet.”
However, adds Science, “scientists still don’t know where more than 99% of ocean plastic debris ends up—and what impact it’s having on marine life and the human food supply.”
Even worse, the amount of plastic waste getting into the ocean is expected to “more than double in the next 10 years,” adds Science.
Dare County is the largest county in North Carolina, although only about 25% of its area is land. It is literally surrounded by water, including the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound. The area which was nearly unpopulated at the time the Wright Brothers conducted their first unmanned flight in Kill Devil Hills, has now become a strip of sea- and sound-shore packed with beach rental and residential homes. And the need for easy access to recycling by all has become too obvious to ignore.
While Dare County is to be applauded for its efforts so far, including eliminating plastic grocery bags, encouraging beach clean-up efforts and providing recycling containers near some public beach accesses, more should be done to help especially year-round residents recycle plastics. Currently residents must pay a monthly fee to Bay Recycling to get pickup containers for curbside recycling. Although the fee is not high, some residents cannot afford it, and Bay Recycling already profits from selling the recycled materials.
And, according to ask green.org, Dare County would benefit financially by paying the cost for all residents to have curbside recycling, if such cost is even justified - because; says ask green: “Recycling programs help municipalities operate more efficiently by reducing solid waste disposal fees and cutting back on the need to expand and build landfills (an expensive undertaking).”
We ask Dare County and/or Bay Recycling to find a way to provide access to curbside recycling for all Dare County residents.
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