Editor:

I read with interest Supervisor Connie Chan’s column on plastic pollution. I want to tell you what I did and suggest that other individuals can do this as well.

I had bought some earbuds which were packaged with double plastic sleeves over cardboard backing with another plastic cover. I found the producer, the manufacturer of the product. 

After opening the package. I gathered up all the plastic, packaged it, and wrote a cover letter to the CEO of the company and advised them to consider using less plastics and more recyclable material in their products; and to change the way they package their items, from now and into the future.

The company was in China. I mailed the plastic packaging back to them, along with my letter. It

cost me more than double the price of the of the earbuds. I really did not expect anything back

However, about three months later, I received a letter from the CEO thanking me for my

concerns. His letter included photographs of their new current packaging.

I feel that if every individual did what I did – return the plastic packaging back to the

manufacturer along with a cover letter similar to the one I wrote – manufacturers and corporations will rethink the way they package their products and use less or no plastic.

I thank Ms. Chan for her column and the Richmond Review for publishing it.

Gaetana Caldwell Smith