Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Nah, we just throw them away - Kroger's Rx

Having experienced Taiwan's mandatory recycling program and innovative policies such as mandatory used battery recycling bins at convenience stores, I am shocked as usual back in the USA with the lazy attitude about recycling. Case in point, I picked up some prescription medicines for my parents at the Kroger supermarket/pharmacy. I asked the pharmacists what they do with the used pill boxes / cylinders. To my chagrin, she indicated that they just trash them. No effort or even thinking about recycling these plastic wonders.

It would seem, a priori, that it would make sense to recycle plastic pillboxes -- the right thing to do, good business sense (plastic costs are rising, would help Kroger by selling these to recyclers?) and good PR.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

we are a land o' plenty. it is more convenient to trash than recycle. "it would make sense" is not the american way. i must admit that sometimes it is more convenient to trash soda cans than to walk outside to the recycling bin. bad bad me! some recycled products, such as recyled paper, are more expensive than newly made out of trees (raw materials). we have so much landfill that we sell some of it (i.e. michigan) to canada! yes, we'll buy your trash!