Proper recycling not going to happen
Re: “Trash confusion”, (Citizen, June 24)
I have worked in the (so-called) industry, but as a municipal worker I find the idea that bureaucrats seem to have faith in the people who recycle, and believe they will do as they are told an error in judgment. It will never happen; as one who participates I can say that and be correct.
I got fed up with having to separate, remove labels, rinse and store a multitude of containers, battle the insects and mice etc. And the smell from storing these items away until collection day. No one can say each person’s experience is the same but expecting the public at large to do more than that is a pipe dream.
I got to the point where, as I was a solid waste collector, all of it just went into the garbage, when the wife wasn’t around. Fining people for getting some of the wrong objects in the garbage is insane. Fining drivers of commercial trucks for the same thing is insane as well. People hide a lot of interesting (bletch) things in their trash; some grin I’m sure when their waste leaves. Some, like my neighbours, burn their garbage and stink up the whole area. But that’s another story/issue.
Create jobs — the pencil pushers could do a lot better by simply creating jobs to sort the stuff when/after it arrives at the landfill. Putting the burden on the rate payers is already being done; making it worse is not productive it only angers us. Get some minimum wage earners to do it and lower the unemployment rate. The fact that the producers of this waste presume to dump it on us from the very beginning is ridiculous; change the packaging, yes? Do that!
Don Richardson
Shawnigan Lake
