Most people will agree recycling is supposed to help the environment. A lot of material can thereby be processed, reused and kept out of the landfill.
A more recently implemented program, however, set up by the provincial government seems to have a frustrated a lot of residents. This program was set up to collect and recycle non-refundable glass containers.
The original public notice said to put the glass out in a container at curbside on the last pick-up day of the month. This has since been changed to the last pick-up day for your area that is not the collection day for bagged recyclables.
So, on this designated day a full-sized Waste Management truck is dispatched just to pick up this glass. Then the truck returns to pick up the garbage. In June the truck came up our road then back out; there was no glass at the curb. The next month we flagged the driver down to ask, and were told he’d been out for some time in the big truck and had picked up a total of four bottles!
The same thing happened on August 19.
“This separate glass recycle pickup seems a particular waste of taxpayers’ money,” said one resident.
“It appears public awareness is an issue, or the need is not there for this service,” said another. “If there’s money for this item why isn’t it part of the regular pickup?”
Also, did you know any items not properly cleaned will contaminate the whole bag and it will then go to the landfill?
We asked public works and they told us the government (taxpayer) pays for this service.
So a big truck burns fuel and wastes our money to fulfill a government plan that is really not doing much to improve our environment. I wonder how many people will be willing to voice their concerns over this inefficient, wasteful practice?
We thank the garbage pick-up drivers for their valuable service, kudos to you all.
Rose Cameron,
Merry Creek Road, Castlegar
