Re: ‘Regional District of Nanaimo deals with issues impacting automated garbage collection’ (www.pqbnews.com, Oct. 31)
Thank you for publishing Larry Gardner’s message concerning garbage pickup, placement of containers, etc.. One thing I learned that was new to me was how the locking system works on the recycle container. I always left it unlocked thinking it wouldn’t open when being dumped.
The main reason for my note is to ask the RDN what actually happens to the waste materials after they leave the curb, especially the recyclables and compostable materials?
The non-recyclable materials I presume get incinerated, or sent to a dump site somewhere, and if so where? The larger part of my question is concerning the recyclables. Where and how is it sorted and what happens to the individual waste components, paper, plastics, and the like? How and who handles the sorted components?
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The message I hear often is that, when our volume gets to a certain limit it gets dumped as well and or shipped offshore. Is 100 per cent of our recyclable and compostable material in fact recycled and if so, where, and how? If there’s a big compost pile in the sky somewhere, where is it and what’s happening to the compost? How’s it reused or is it? And so on.
Since the early days of dumping everything at a landfill site somewhere, and as our waste control and management systems have supposedly improved in recent years, maybe Larry and Co. can give us a more detailed picture of the process and handling after it leaves the curb.
David Webb
Qualicum Beach
