Dear Editor,

I am on board with saving the environment and fully support any effort to do so.

I compost in the backyard, where all the vegetable and fruit peels are recycled into rich food for the soil. The plastic bottles are donated to schools’ recycling programmes or dropped off at locations that accept them — though they are few and far away.

Garbage collection in my area is very unreliable — every two to three weeks, and on any day as the spirit moves them. Of course, at Christmastime they miraculously turn up every week along with their envelopes.

So, without a schedule of garbage collection, household garbage placed on the sidewalk attracts all the roaming street animals and mentally challenged people who rummage through the bags. So that’s another clean-up.

Luckily, I work at a location with a skip, so every morning I take my trash to work for disposal. Am I breaking the law by using a plastic bag to do so? Am I wrong to make every effort to keep my surroundings clean? I do not generate enough household trash to fill the large bags mandated by the Government, except the garden trash which is too much to recycle in the compost.

When will Government accept responsibility for supporting the plastic ban? Arresting people for using scandal bags continues to put the onus solely on the citizenry. We need regular garbage collection, garbage bins in the public space, and many options to capture trash.

Where is the promised pick-up of household trash separate from recyclables? What has happened to the grand plan to offer monetary rebate for plastic bottles?

The single-use plastic bag ban has now opened another level of criminality as my two multi-use bags were stolen from my shopping cart at a popular grocery store this past week. I am hoping that the store will take the time to check their closed-circuit television footage to pick out the criminal. I will now write my name in bold letters on all shopping bags and I am suggesting that your readers follow suit.

Agencies with responsibility for the environment must provide the infrastructure to support the citizens, not mouth platitudes, to achieve our national aspirations.

Marcia Harford

marciah@cwjamaica.com