Editor’s note: This commentary is by Matt Krauss, of Stowe, who is a happily retired state employee and a former Vermont legislator.
[S]towe Reporter, can we talk? I enjoy reading your newspaper. But the number of flyers in them is pushing me to consider a trial separation. The state of Vermont has a solid waste crisis. Unless changes are made quickly our only landfill in the state will be filled as early as four years from now. The recyclables market has cratered nationwide, and Stowe residents, as of Aug. 1, have to pay to do the right thing and recycle in Stowe. Yet each week the Stowe Reporter adds thousands of pounds of unread, annoying and unwanted flyers into the waste stream. Many Stowe residents don’t use them and don’t want them. Given our solid waste crisis, where will all that excess solid waste go when that landfill is filled?
Want an example? Your Aug. 23 edition was a hefty issue. I weighed both the ads and the newspaper. The ads weighed twice what the two sections of the newspaper weighed combined. Would you consider that a bit much? Given your weekly circulation numbers, that means the ads alone were 2,540 pounds. By way of comparison, my automobile weighs 2,459 pounds. Visualize a car driving straight into the landfill or into the Stowe recycling center. That’s your weekly contribution in flyers alone!
The three “R’s” in the solid waste management mantra are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The emphasis should always be heavy on the reduce part. All those excess flyers and ads are filling up our recycle bins. Every Thursday I get my copy of the Stowe Reporter at the Stowe post office. It is full of unwanted flyers which I promptly deposit in the large blue recycle buckets. Based upon the full buckets, many Stowe residents are doing likewise. Check it out yourself. Some might say it’s wasteful.
The free weekly supermarket/drug store flyers are contained in the newspaper, then the companies mail additional free copies to us through the post office, and when we go into the stores additional copies are available for free. Question: How many free paper copies of those supermarket/drug store flyers do environmentally friendly Stowe shoppers need? Answer: None. They access the ads online. Or like many Stowe residents, including myself, they access the flyers through the store apps on their smartphone.
We know you get paid to put those flyers in the newspaper, but changes in technology, our Vermont culture, shopping habits and markets mean all of us have to adapt. If your neighbor got paid to deposit all those unwanted flyers on your front lawn every week and forced you to pay for the recycling, you’d have “polite” words with them, wouldn’t you? All of us need to face the end of outdated and environmentally unsound practices.
May I offer a friendly challenge to the Stowe Reporter, one of the most influential voices in Stowe? I offer five suggestions to keep our conversation going and avoid a divorce:
• Please consider creating an “Opt out” provision which allows Stowe Reporter subscribers to request that their copy of the weekly newspaper be delivered “without” flyers. And if you notify every subscriber of the new “Opt out” option, they can choose which option works best for them. Stowe residents like choices.
• Place on the Stowe Reporter premises a large recycle bin where Stowe citizens can deposit, free of charge, the unwanted flyers. It’s been shown that when those who produce excess waste are required to take the waste back their habits change. Consider the disposal costs of a full bin of those flyers as part of your bottom line.
• Consider phasing out the supermarket/drug store flyers where the Stowe Reporter is sold in a retail setting. Place a small “flyer free” sticker on these issues and let the consumer decide which copies they want to buy. Work with the supermarkets and drug stores to adapt to changing market wishes. Remind them how consumers have turned on plastic bags as an example of changing trends.
• Impanel a small and select group of Stowe business leaders and influential Stowe citizens to work with the Stowe Reporter. Ask them to craft a transition plan helping those still wedded to the enjoyable tactile feel of a newspaper to more environmentally friendly online options, perhaps focusing on flyers first. By the way, I count myself among those needing coaching to give up my “newspaper.” And yes I know an online version exists, but like many others I am not there yet.
• Keep a running total in the Stowe Reporter showing how many excess paper ads, etc. by weight you have kept out of the waste stream on an annual basis. I’ll grant you that it won’t be followed as closely as the Megabucks jackpot, but Stowe citizens will still follow your efforts. They will encourage and thank you.
No one business or individual has all the answers. Most Stowe residents are eager and engaged environmentalists who would like to “save a few trees” and our children’s environmental future.
We try to do our part, and we will support local business leaders, like the Stowe Reporter, that step up and lead. If you lead and make changes, others will follow.
I am a believer that citizens shouldn’t just complain about problems.They have an obligation to offer tangible solutions and help implement those ideas. As a parent and interested Stowe resident I stand ready to do my part with the Stowe Reporter too. Together we can begin to address our recyclables and solid waste problem and help create a more environmentally friendly future for our children. Don’t they deserve the best we can offer?
