To the Editor:

I am happy to see that the Lions will again do their annual “Lose the Litter” cleanup day in conjunction with the Newtown Earth Day Festival at the Middle School this Saturday. I hope it is well attended.

On my own street clean up the other day (trying to use up orange bags that will soon be obsolete) I found a treasure. It was a small but thick glass bottle that according to my research had held Heinz pickled onions sometime before 1943.

It got me to thinking: Remember when practically everything we ate was packaged in either glass, metal, or paper cartons? Oh, how I wish it were still like that today. It would be so much more healthy for us, and better for the environment too, since all of those materials are readily and economically recyclable. The vast majority of plastics are not. If you have any doubts please read the eye opening November 2022 Greenpeace report on the status of the endeavor. This is why I try not to buy plastics but it seems like every time I shop, another producer has switched to it. It saddens me to see so many individuals becoming more environmentally conscious, when so many businesses are going the opposite way in this regard.

Randi Kiely

Newtown