Emily Kwong

What would they do with all the plastic now?

Here's Beth.

Yeah, you write about how suddenly after the war, there's all this marketing for plastic toys like Silly Putty and Hulu Hoops.

I was so taken also with the history of bottle bills.

Basically, they're local and state bills that encourage recycling by adding…

a small deposit, like five cents to the price of soda.

And when someone returns an empty bottle of soda, they get that five cents back.

But some beverage companies have historically suppressed these bills to avoid having to pay for these returned bottles.

Can you tell us about that history?

Yeah.

Ten states right now have bottle bills on the books, with legislation actively being considered in several more.

Should we return to the days of bottle-filling stations and food without packaging?

Yeah, you talk about a little plastic tray used to catch the drips from your ice cream cone.

You also talk in the book about fracking.

And fracking is when companies drill deep below the surface of the earth.

They blast fluid to unlock gas and oil reserves.

And marketing-wise, you know, sold to the public as a way to solve our energy crisis.

Instead, it's proven very bad for the environment.

And I didn't realize this at all until reading your book.

It has created more plastic products.