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.
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