To the Editor,
Re: Recycling scheme doesn’t work for B.C., Opinion, April 3.
The planned implementation of the Multi Material B.C. program in May is a boondoggle of a program with no meaningful government oversight.
It is not needed in order to improve recycling rates. In fact, based on jurisdictions where this program already runs, this program will curtail recycling rates – not only because it will put many recycling facilities and programs out of business, but because it will divert some plastics and paper away from recycling. It is no coincidence that these are the ideal materials for incinerators, and that incinerator companies are currently seeking to gain a foothold in British Columbia, including here in Nanaimo.
The obvious conclusion is that fewer waste resources will be recovered, more will be burned, and we will have ‘no choice’ but to build incinerators – at huge public expense both financially and environmentally.
Thus far the only jurisdiction in the world to have abandoned this monopolistic MMBC-type of program after its implementation is Germany, which is now achieving higher rates of recycling. Can’t we learn from them before we repeat this travesty?
Ian GartshoreNanaimo
