To the Editor,
I believe that Wellness should apply to the environment . . . and I’m sure others would agree with that statement.
This week we had occasion to exchange a satellite receiver, because the previous one had failed. When our excellent local technician came to set up the new box, he asked what I was going to do with the failed part.
My instinct tells me that it should be recycled. It has a silicon board inside it, and I am sure that mercury is present. And I thought back to the recycling weekend that we had in town just a few short months ago, and remembered all of the electronics that I saw being carted along for “proper disposal”.
Short of driving to Kamloops, I am going to have a useless piece of electronic equipment sitting around for a year or more until the next recycling drive. Our local technician is in the same position — and his problem is many times greater than mine.
So my question is simple: why does not, or why cannot, our local recycling program extend to electronics on a full-time basis? It has been said before that what has gone into the Cache Creek landfill should make us fearful for the future. I’m no scientist, but my deduction tells me that there has to be some kind of water run-off from the Cache Creek landfill, which I imagine makes its way into the Bonaparte River. The Bonaparte feeds into the Thompson River . . . which is where the Ashcroft water supply comes from. Deduction: mercury in the landfill equals poison in our water supply.
Am I being too simplistic here?
Christopher Roden
Ashcroft, BC
