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Packaging adds much to volume in landfills

Ohio EPA officials reported Monday that even as citizens increase the amount of material they are recycling, they are sending as much trash to the landfill as ever.

The reasons for that are many, but one is easily discernible to any consumer.

One state official said the nation's strong economy has enabled people to buy more goods.

What he didn't say, at least in the report received via The Associated Press, was that consumers are faced with ever growing amounts of packaging.

Cardboard, plastic foam, bubble wrap, paper, flimsy wood, plastic wrap, foam wrap and combinations thereof abound. When the item purchased is unwrapped or unboxed at home, the pile of packaging often takes up more space than the goods it protected.

Even items that would not have to be packaged for their protection are encased in some kind of wrap so that the universal product code can be displayed for the scanner.

And speaking of the modern store checkout setup, who would be willing to hold up the line in order to take off all that packaging so it could be left in the store?

People who have been committed to recycling can find themselves overwhelmed by the amount of material confronting them. It's no wonder that much of it finds its way into landfills.

A good place to start in trying to reduce trash would be the packaging process. If merchandisers and their suppliers could be convinced that less is more, huge amounts of trash could be eliminated.

And then there is yard waste, which already is supposed to have been eliminated from Ohio landfills. But that's an editorial for another day.