So the label said when I tossed it into the white trash bag. Soon enough to melt and burn, just like so much of my trash, anonymously disappearing into the flames and a little black smoke.

Plastics recycling is mostly a scam. Some of the No 2 plastic are turned into plastic lumber for decks and railings at DEC projects, but most of it is trash, a byproduct of all that natural gas we use to heat our homes and to a lesser extent the oil that fuels my SuperDuty truck and a billion other cars. But for me, it’s just trash and ultimately fire.

Sometimes I watch as the plastics melts and burns, but mostly I don’t. Mostly it’s just there to get the fire burning hot, the goal to incinerate and destroy it as fast as possible without stink lest leery eyes report it to law. Maybe not lawful in New York but who cares in wilderness. The nasty stuff is mostly gone, fracking producing oodles of cheap polyethelene and environmental regulation means PVC is mostly a memory except maybe for fire-resistant electrical cords.

I won’t argue there isn’t too much gross plastic crap everywhere to send up in smoke. I tell myself eating healthy, I’ve cut way back. But I could do better if I got milk delivered. Or was a bit more careful of a consumer. But what do I care? It smashes down and then almost completely disappears in the flames.