Dear editor,
I would like to address the issue of garbage pickup in areas A, B and C.
First of all, why is it an issue in the first place? Have residents been clamouring for the service?
I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that soon the CVRD will be faced with the cost of putting in a recycling centre, as the clock is ticking on the Home Depot area, certainly the one at the base isn’t even close to being central enough.
No, my guess is that some brilliant mastermind came up with the idea of charging the rural resident s for garbage and recycling pickup, thereby avoiding the cost of a recycling centre by letting the rural residents carry the burden.
I mean, we generally don’t get any services for the taxes we pay so I have to admit this would be an unusual step.
The CVRD would have us believe this is solely for our benefit, but it seems to me the people who wish to look after their own garbage pickup, me for example and many other residents I’ve spoken to are getting a raw deal.
We compost, recycle, make occasional trips to the dump, all of which costs $20 or $30 dollars a year, not a couple of hundred. Some people have their garbage picked up once a month and some who go away for half the year have the choice of cancelling pickup while away.
And I wonder, what with water meter bills looming (another unfair bill to the rural residents, as the rates established are outrageous) how many of those recyclables will be properly cleaned?
If it’s a case of paying for a litre of water for your tomatoes or to clean that empty soup can, I know what I will choose.
I have one more comment on why this is a bad idea. If you’ve ever been in an urban residential area on a windy recycling day, there is paper and other refuse blowing everywhere.
So what’s bad in a small, contained urban area will be much worse when it’s rural. Properties being so much larger, no one will have any idea where the garbage is coming from, they’ll just have to clean up whatever lands on their property.
Well, I for one don’t wish to be picking up my neighbour’s garbage.
Maybe with all the funds the CRVD has saved with not having to provide a recycling centre, they could hire someone to go around and pick up all the stray garbage.
Kathy Rushton,
Comox Valley
