TheBanyanTree: blue shrinkwrap joy

[Sherry Lester]

I'm not a fanatic.  No, really, I'm not.  In fact, I
flail too much to be put into any "box" catagory.  But
this has nothing to do with my topic. 
Eight years ago, has it really been that long!?, I
started research on a recycling program for marine
shrinkwrap.  Having moved to a state that is
surrounded by large bodies of water on three sides and
is the mother of inland lakes I thought for certain
there would be a program to reuse/recycle the plastic
that is used to cover boats for the winter.  Not so. 
Not locally and not state wide.  I was stunned.  Even
more stunned when I discovered the qualities of the
plastic kept it from degrading - ever- in a landfill
and that was exactly where it was going. I was just
looking for a program, I had no intention of starting
one, but starting one is what happened. I finally
found a company that would recycle it and again,
finally, found a company that would collect it from
the area where I lived.  I had hopes of creating a
countywide collection.  Two years the program worked
fairly well.  It required a few phone calls to the
trucking company to come and pick it up, but it got
done eventually.
If a conversation doesn't start with "with the price
of gas these days" I'm surprised, and the next
sentence starts just that way.  "With the price of gas
these days" the trucking company needs to charge to
collect the plastic.  I knew it was coming down the
road and was unable to convenience people that it was
worth the $1.50 per cover to keep it out of the
landfill.  I finally found an agency willing to pay
for the collection and then had to convince the
trucking company to make the collection.  For some
peculiar reason I couldn't seem to convenience them
that we would pay to have it picked up. The pile of
plastic sat there since May on the verge of being put
in a dumpster headed for a landfill to take up
valuable space for---ever.
I gave up.  I'd run out of creative ideas.  I'd run
out of contacts with people who had more "clout" than
I do to get things done.  I was in some kind of
emotional place I've never been before.  I felt beaten
down, defeated.  I felt I had no choice but to give
up.  I had nothing left for it.  If no one else cares,
why should I?  Today I got a call that the trucking
company is going to pick it up and take it to a
recycler. Well, well, I guess I do still care after
all.