Editor, The News:
Re: Lucky to live in Maple Ridge (Letters, May 24):
Henry Blok, while I appreciate your enthusiasm for Maple Ridge’s current recycling system, I’d like to address your suggestion of dealing with food scraps by putting them through a garburator.
Here are some reasons why garburating food scraps is not a good solution (taken directly from Ridge Meadows Recycling Society’s “Report to Council: April 19, 2010”:
• build up of food waste inside pipes leading to clogs;
• extra amounts of water and energy are required to push food waste through pipes;
• strain on treatment plant as the existing system is not set up to handle volume;
• negative impact downstream on ecosystems.
With that said, they do state that garburating organic waste is better than sending it to the landfill.
Several Canadian municipalities, including Toronto, Ottawa and Guelph, have banned the use of garburators, while many others discourage their use.
In addition, many scientific studies have been conducted to demonstrate that adding food scraps to the water system can be hazardous to aquatic life.
I would like to reiterate my position that composting organic waste, via weekly curbside pick up, is the best solution for our city. Combined with a streamlined recycling program and city-wide garbage pick-up, we will be even luckier to live in Maple Ridge.
Cheryl Zandbergen
Maple Ridge
