Dear Sir,
It is very positive to hear that City Council is supportive of recycling and is going to ban cardboard from the municipal dump.
I too have been astounded by how much cardboard and other recyclables are on the curb for garbage day. Although I agree with the ban on cardboard in the landfill, I do believe that as a community we need to institute better alternatives and make recycling available for all citizens.
We need to look at curbside recycling, or a central recycle bin site; the lower City Centre Mall parking lot or the back parking lot behind the BC Liquor Store would be perfect locations.
We need to figure out how we are able to build and sustain the infrastructure to support plastic, Styrofoam and glass recycling. I take my plastics and glass to Terrace to recycle. I normally have a garbage bag a week of plastics, glass and Styrofoam to recycle and that is just one home.
We know through various research and studies that have been conducted, the negative environmental effects that plastics, Styrofoam and glass have on the environment; the average time it takes plastic to decompose in a landfill is close to 700 years, glass that ends up in landfills never decomposes and Styrofoam will remain in landfill space for close to 500 years and it is not bio-degradable.
I am staggered by the fact that our community does not have the availability to recycle the most detrimental products that end up in our landfill. We also know there are various different products that can be reproduced from recycled materials.
Perhaps stores should be responsible for products they sell and the packing they sell it in and maybe we should be able to return Styrofoam, plastics and glass from where it was purchased.
There are many trucks and trailers that leave town empty to various locations; is there not a way to utilize the current traffic to export our recycling. There must be different federal, provincial and municipal monies and grants for recycling that we may be able to tap into as well as other local business support.
Can you imagine how much more we can save from our landfill if we as a community were able to recycle plastics, Styrofoam and glass?
We need to give citizens the every opportunity to do more so our children and our children’s children have a safe, healthy environment to live in.
Absolutely every effort counts and if we can come together as a community we will be able to reduce our carbon print and minimize our effects on the environment.
Crystal Smith