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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-07-19, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1989. PAGE 5. A surprising success story for local municipalities BY USA BOONSTOPPEL •Recycling one tonne of waste material saves two and a half cubic metres of landfill space. •If all the aluminum soft drink cans sold in one year were recy­ cled, enough energy would be saved to heat 48,000 homes per year. •Recycling one tonne of news­ paper saves 19 trees. •The energy saved by recycling one glass bottle will light one 100-watt bulb for four hours. •If Canadians recycled all their steel, food and soft drink cans for one year, we’d have enough recy­ cled steel to make 145,000 cars. •With only eight per cent of the world’s population, North America produces more than 50 per cent of the world’s garbage. •We produce 10 million tonnes of solid waste, in our homes and businesses, each year in Toronto. This waste, if stacked up to the level of the goalposts, would fill about 4,000 football fields each year. •Based on current, certain trends, more than half of the residents in Ontario will have no place to take their waste within five years. Scores of existing disposal facilities will be filled, others will be closed because they are danger­ ous. It may be these statistics that started it. They are scary: imagine having no place to take your garbage. These statistics are also heartening when you realize that by recycling this paper, you can help save a tree. What has started is an phenomenal move toward recycling. Locally, residents in Grey, McKillop, East Wawanosh, West Wawanosh, Morris and Brus­ sels have started recycling and the popularity of this environment saver can be seen in the success of each township’s waste manage­ ment program. “Right off the bat, we had good participation,’’ said Brad Knight about the recycling program in “It was easier than we Many families today have double incomes with a couple of children. They usually have to juggle their time and don’t have a lot of room in their lives for those extra little things that take a little time. Recycling could be considered one of those little extras and one of the most difficult aspects in getting people to recycle is convincing them it won’t be a bother. But thoughts of washing cans and bottles on top of their usual dish load isn’t a welcome idea. Then when recycling demands crushed cans and peeled lables, it begins to sound more like a chore. ' One family who had similar thoughts is Kenzie and Robin Smith of RR 2, Listowel in Grey Township. “I thought recycling would be a lot of bother,” said Mrs. Smith when her township initiated their Grey and McKillop townships. “We have probably 70 per cent participation in recycling from the people going to the landfill.” It was originally expected that the recycling bin placed at the Grey township landfill site last October 1 would be filled twice a year. But avid recyclists have been filling the bin every four to five weeks. Other townships are revealing a similar scenario. Brussels recycling program has been running for 16 weeks and has collected 28,990 pounds of recyclable material. The average weekly pick-up is 1800 pounds revealed Donna White, deputy clerk-treasurer of the vil­ lage. West Wawanosh township repor­ ted that since the installation of their bin at the end of August last year, the bin has been emptied three times and is almost full again. At the East Wawanosh landfill site, where there are three separate bins for newspaper, glass and tin, the bin has already been emptied once since it was placed in the landfill site in March of this year. The clerk-treasurer of the town­ ship, Winona Thompson said that in three months, it’ll be full again. Since February of this year the recycling superintendent at the Morris Township landfill site says 75 to 80 per cent of the people attending the dump recycle. They’ve accumulated about 15 tons of recyclables so far. Since each township and village has a different population, compar­ isons cannot be made between these statistics from each place. However, each report indicates the incredible response in this area to recycling. As well, the townships have different ways of recycling. Grey township residents are the only ones with blue boxes but they do not have road-side pick-up. Grey is part of a pilot program where the boxes are government funded to see if the boxes encourage recyc­ ling. About 1100 boxes were distri­ recycling program in October last year. “I really didn’t want to do it,” she frankly admits. Mrs. Smith wasn’t sure what all recycling entailed and had con­ cerns that it would take a lot of time and effort - time she really couldn’t afford. Mrs. Smith works full-time as a decorator employed by Univer­ sal Interiors. Her husband also works full-time as a Ready Mix cement truck driver for Hogg’s Fuel and Supply. They are also the parents of three young children. The Smiths actually started recy­ cling out of necessity. Their gar­ bage is dumped into a bin behind their house and is picked up by a disposal company. However, Grey council wasn’t going to allow the company to dump the garbage in the landfill site because it wasn’t sorted. The Smiths along with ^ther residents in the area who buted in Grey and McKillop. The recyclable material is shipped to Stratford and Grey receives $25 per Peter Workman of Cranbrook is the recycling man at the Grey Township dump just east of Walton. Peter helps recyclers dump the tins, glass and newspaper into the separate compartments of the recycling bin which is being filled about every five weeks. thought” family finds were serviced by the company agreed to recycle in order to retain their garbage pick-up. Now that they have started recycling, Mrs. Smith says she is discovering surprising results. First of all, she has found that recycling isn’t a drain on her time. “It’s a part of our life now,” she says “as soon as we use a soup can or juice can we just rinse them out and put them in the blue box.” The other cans that require a bit more cleaning are just washed along with the dishes. “Recycling is a part of our daily routine.” As well, she’s noticed they have a lot less garbage. “I used to take the garbage can out (to the bin behind their house) every other day, now I only have to take it out twice a week.” The large bin used to be picked up once a month, but it’s been over two months since it’s last emptied and it still isn’t full. tonne for the material. “This amount of money pays for the mileage to Stratford,” said Mr. Knight who added that recycling isn’t a money making proposition. Brussels has a totally different approach to recycling. Instead of the blue boxes, they use bags wh.ch are picked up at the road­ side. “We found it was the cheapest way to get started,” said Mrs. White, who revealed the initial outlay for their program was only $600. Carter’s Waste Disposal from Wingham picks the bags up and delivers them to MacLellan Waste Disposal in Mount Forest who pays $12 per tonne. East Wawanosh, West Wawa­ nosh, and Morris townships just have a bin at their respective landfill sites and residents aren’t supplied with boxes or bags but provide their own means of collec­ tion. Chamney Sanitation takes care of the East Wawanosh recy­ cling bins while MacLellan Waste Disposal picks up the West Wawa­ nosh and Morris bin. *»s Mr. Smith is the one who travels to the dump and usually has about two full boxes of recyclables. Since their township dump is so far away for them (it’s about a half an hour drive), their neighbours and family have developed a sharing system and take turns driving to the site just east of Walton. The problems they are having with recycling are ones they never expected. “The blue boxes need to be bigger,” said Mrs. Smith who finds she has too many recyclables for its diminutive size. The Smiths were a family who just didn’t want to recycle but have found that by doing it, they’ve developed a real appreciation for their environment. And now that recycling is routine Mrs. Smith says “I wouldn’t have done it if someone hadn’t made me do it but if Grey township stopped recycling, I wouldn’t.” Again, with varying populations and an imbalance of rural and urban residents, each area has devised a recycling system that best suits the needs of the resi­ dents or that wuiks out the best for tneir township. With the different recycling pro­ grams, some areas have stricter standards for their recyclable ma­ terial. Brussels residents just have to wash their glass and tins and they throw all the recyclables in one bag. East Wawanosh requires flattened cans and most townships require that newspaper, glass and tin be separated. Some have to peel the labels off the tins and glass. The different requirements are usually stipulations of the company where the recyclables are sent. Brussels sends theirs to a company that sorts the recyclable material out themselves but they also re­ ceive less money for their ship­ ments. Grey’s recyclables have to be sorted or they won’t be accept­ ed. But, no matter how it’s done or where it’s done, everything and everybody wins with recycling. One of the most beneficial as­ pects to recycling is extending the life of landfill sites. Until recently garbage was always dumped and buried in landfill sites. This has created serious problems as toxic wastes contaminate the sites and leach into both the atmosphere and water supplies. This has closed many sites down which leads to another problem. Finding suitable landfill sites is very difficult since it was discovered that waste water migrates underground. As well, finding a landsite is very expensive since before a new site can be licenced by the Ministry of the Environment, test drilling and water testing have to be done around the site to discover its underground water patterns. Another benefit to recycling is that the reduced waste means fewer bags of garbage to handle. Then there are the obvious advant­ ages of recycling like saving trees, energy and natural resources. There is a statistic that isn’t in the books but is one of the best reasons to recycle. Our land, our lives and our future are precious so we should do all we can to preserve them. Letters to the editor Councillor explains resignation DEAR EDITOR & RATEPAYERS: During my many years of teach­ ing children I’ve always stressed doing one’s best and standing up for what one feels is right. I’ve believed that promises must be kept and any job you do deserves your best effort. When running for election I promised the ratepayers that I would do my best to keep Blyth the safe, clean and friendly village it is. I also promised to voice any concerns of the ratepayers as well as keep them informed of what was happening. I feel that I did the most I could along these lines. It appears that I was over anxious. I didn’t sit back quietly. I asked questions. I made decisions Continued on page 8 Blyth citizen feels slighted THE EDITOR, As a concerned citizen of Blyth who ran for council in the last election, I would like it to be known by the electors that I was not asked by council to take the seat which was vacated by Dave Medd. I was the next candidate (in terms of votes) and was willing to do my best as a councillor for the village of Blyth. I feel slighted by not being given the opportunity to serve. Lvnn Logue