Why do I have to use the special yellow bag to recycle
my other plastic bags and cellophane?
Isn’t that wasteful? Why can’t I
just put all my bags inside a plain bag?
It does seem counterintuitive
but there is actually a reason. The
bright yellow “Bag the Bag” stuffers are made to stand up to compaction. They are made of a tough plastic, and there
are some little holes at the bottom to let air out so that they deflate when
compacted, rather than explode. A
regular bag would come apart when squished and your bags would all fly around
and get caught up in the moving parts of the sorting equipment, jamming it up. The yellow bags are free at the Georgetown
Municipal Complex at 300-1 Industrial Avenue, at Garden-Ville at 250 Walden
Drive, and at the Sun City Social Center on Texas Drive. A stuffer lasts at least a month at my house
because I really cram them full.
Hey, if you still don’t like
the stuffer bags, just don’t recycle plastic films. It’s OK; the world won’t end if bags and
wrappers are low on your priority list. Repurposing
is better than recycling anyway. Use
your plastic bags to line your trash cans or pick up dog poop, and then throw
them in the regular trash. A few plastic
wrappers will hardly make a difference.
It’s the big things that matter, like cans, glass, milk jugs, junk mail,
newspapers, cardboard, and plastic containers.
If those all go into your single
stream recycling bin, you are still an awesome recycle superhero.
Summer is coming.
Does is matter what kind of sunscreen I use?
As with most good questions,
this one is complicated. If you have
watched television lately, you have seen a handsome middle aged man applying a
medication to his armpit that promises to resolve his manly problems. Even if you have no interest in that guy’s
medical issues, the advertisement demonstrates that stuff you rub on your skin doesn’t
just sit there on the outside. The skin
is a doorway to the bloodstream for many chemicals. The man rubs a little hormone under his arm,
and then the fast voice at the end of the commercial advises women and children
to stay away from his armpit to avoid exposure to even a tiny bit of leftover
medication. (Most women stay away from
men’s armpits even without a warning.)
So now imagine a sunscreen that has multiple active chemicals in
it. You slather that sunscreen all over
your toddler’s tender skin, head to toe, and then, if you follow instructions,
you repeat the application after a few hours.
One chemical contained in 52% of all American sunscreens, oxybenzone,
has hormone-like effects. Oxybenzone has
been detected in the urine of 96% of all Americans, and even penetrates into
mothers’ milk. Retinyl palmitate, a form
of vitamin A used in 25% of sunscreens, actually increases skin cancer in mice
exposed to sunlight. Those are just two
of the dozens of chemicals used in sunscreens.
(It should be noted that the American Academy of Dermatology maintains
that both of these ingredients are harmless as used in sunscreens by humans.)
Sunscreens which physically block
radiation with zinc or titanium oxides do not appear to penetrate the skin and
are probably safer choices than chemical sunscreens. Hats are even safer. The only real side effect with hats is “hat
hair,” which in some instances can be quite serious.
Effectiveness is the other
big issue with sunscreens. Many
sunscreens protect only against ultraviolet B radiation, the cause of
sunburn. To have even a hope of
protection against skin damage, you have to protect against ultraviolet A
radiation also. Even with coverage for
both A and B radiation, the Food and Drug Administration does not allow
sunscreen makers to claim that their products will protect against cancer or
premature aging. It turns out that the
evidence that sunscreens prevent skin cancer is pretty tenuous. (Now I can expect an angry letter from an
indignant dermatologist.) Sun exposure
causes skin cancer, but sunscreen won’t automatically prevent it. Some researchers claim that sunscreen gives
users a false sense of security and they stay out in the sun longer, increasing
their risks.
The Environmental Working
Group (www.ewg.org) has the gold standard guide to over 1800 brand-name sunscreen
products, all rated for safety and effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 10. The website discusses the different
ingredients, and presents more of the research than you will have time to
read. If you spend a lot of time out in
the sun, it would be well worth your time to do a bit of reading. Don’t just buy the cheapest sunscreen in the
front of the store. And do get a nice
hat.
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