Having only lived in Webb City, Missouri for a few months, I immediately noticed all of the litter that was scattered throughout yards, driveways and even the streets. I finally realized that most of the litter I was noticing was actually newspapers from the Joplin Globe. I contacted the Globe directly and asked them about what I was seeing. I was told by the circulation department that because the newspapers have "value" that the Globe was allowed to throw them into any yards that they wish. They also informed me that they will take their extra papers and put them on the properties of non-subscribers. The guise is that they want to introduce these households to the newspaper when my gut tells me that this is a way for them to avoid having to recycle the extra newspapers and thus save on the costs associated.
I then contacted Webb City direct and was told that other towns have sued various newspaper outlets for the same behavior and ultimately they either lost or it became too cost prohibited to fight. That these newspapers argue that the First Amendment allows them to distribute their news in any format that they wish and that no municipality has the right to deter that.
With all of that said, sometimes it takes social media and peer pressure for an organization to do the right thing. While the First Amendment may very well give you the right of distribution, I do not believe that it gives you the right to put out thousands of plastic bags every single week into our environment. Every single newspaper they throw has been wrapped in a plastic bag that ultimately ends up in the sewer or in the belly of animal. Every day we are hearing more and more about the harm that plastic bags cause to the environment yet here we have a local company completely ignoring those statistics all in the name of corporate greed.
Lastly, have you ever driven around to some of the nicer subdivisions? Have you noticed that you don't see the same newspaper being thrown into their yards and streets? Have you noticed how those homes all of Joplin Globe newspaper boxes attached to their mailbox posts? Why is that? Why are those neighborhoods more deserving of respect than the rest of the community? I think we all know the answer.
Please sign the petition below to either encourage the Joplin Globe to change their ways or to convince our local municipalities that certain ordinances are needed in order to protect our communities from irresponsible behavior.
