If it works, don’t fix it is a good rule to follow in most, maybe all, areas of our lives. I think it should have been applied to our domestic recycling.
I also think that the old blue bag system worked just fine.
It was convenient and simple and less work.
This new Emterra system is not so good. In the introductory pamphlet we received in May, we were ordered to have our boxes put out by 7 a.m.
I comply and it’s not an inconvenience for me as it is with some people. The recycling has been picked up at 3 p.m. and sometimes as late as 4 p.m.
So why is 7 a.m. mandatory?
Hmmm, maybe plastic paper and cardboard break down faster if they sit at the side of the road in all kinds of weather all day. Right, that makes sense.
Pat Black, in her Morning Star column, wrote, “I am pretty upset about this as are many other seniors with disabilities forced to quit recycling after using the blue bag system so successfully for many years.”
What I find offensive is that we have been manipulated. Our leaders know that over the years, we have learned the benefits of recycling and it has become a habit. We are victims of bait and switch.
The rules have been changed in the middle of the game. I now have to do a lot more sorting than before. The homeowner does more work so Emterra doesn’t have to.
Plastic wrap as used in toilet paper and paper towel packaging is not allowed so we must package it up and deliver it to a collection depot in our gas-guzzling car.
It’s not too good for the environment.
This has me wondering.
We can’t put paperback novels in the recycling bins but phone books are OK.
At first, I couldn’t see the difference between paperback novels and paperback phone books.
Then I started thinking that maybe numbers break down easier than words. Yup, that makes sense.
So I don’t like it and most people don’t. Maybe we’re stuck with it.
One thing I know for sure is that we’re not stuck with the people responsible for this whole thing.
Paddy O’Leary
Vernon
