To the Editor:
The editorial on “Our throw-away society is poisoning itself” was spot on [The Altamont Enterprise, April 18, 2024]. We are poisoning ourselves, and this is something that Judith Enck from BeyondPlastics.org has been aggressively trying to address for a long time.

I have two further courses of action that I believe will also help address the problem beyond what was indicated in the editorial. Catch and fine those using our town as their own personal dump site, and get laws passed to significantly reduce plastic packaging. Maybe legislation that would have producers pay states on every ton of “THEIR” product sold in that state does not get recycled.

As an aside — the plastics industry knows what is coming at them. They “now” have ads on TV with smiling actors touting the industry’s efforts to recycle their product. The “now” highlights a problem that has existed for what — the last 20 to 30 years.

Regarding the “catch and fine” aspect, I will contact the Guilderland Police to see who has jurisdiction at the I87/Route 20 intersection, what a camera would cost, if in fact violators would be pursued, and go through the go-fund-me process to get the funds necessary to furnish and install a camera.

Regarding the needed legislation, I will contact Judith Enck, and see what might be in process from their end as well as our state and federal legislators to see if anything is in process at the state and federal levels.

Armed with the above we can tailor a course of action.

Bill Goergen

Guilderland