The Rural Voice, 1992-08, Page 45Rural Living
A TIME FOR WRITING
This has been a most challenging
summer. It has been a real education
discovering what plants enjoy cool
damp weather and what ones are
lagging for want of heat. Frost
nipping at our seedlings in June and
enough rain to make it miserable for
creatures great and small and yet not
enough to soak the ground and make
it worth the wind to blow it here. In
our part of the country the impression
of many people in June was that we
had had a lot of rain but if you went
out and did a little shallow digging
the ground was dry and in need of
some care.
The crops are all in and while we
wait for the harvest there are a few
things we could be doing. I get out of
the garden and kitchen occasionally
and I have a little project that I am
interested in getting others to help
with.
Our township council passed a
motion to refuse to take pesticide
containers at our landfill site despite
the fact that the Ministry of the
Environment allows for disposal of
these containers in the compaction
trench. Council felt that there was a
problem and took this short sighted
step. After a bit of hassle from both
ratepayers and site superintendent, a
small trailer was located at the site to
collect triple rinsed containers. This
trailer and others like it from around
the county met in Holmesville where
the Ministry of the Environment
organized a pickup of the containers
last June. The containers are on their
way to a new life as fence posts.
There is another collection planned
for some time in October.
The first rule to recycling is reuse.
Is there any way these containers
could be reused? Now is the time to
get the address off the pesticide con-
tainer and drop a line to the manufac-
turer asking what they are doing
about this container problem. When
you use these plastic jugs you pop the
lid, pour, and rinse. You have a per-
fectly good container left over. Why
can't these be refilled with the same
Farm chemical containers awaiting
r?cycling: but what about reuse?
pesticide? The next alternative to
reusing is of course recycling the
product into another use and in this
case it is fence posts.
Militant environmentalists would
advocate not using chemical pesti-
cides at all. Granted some chemicals
could be reduced or eliminated with
minimal loss to yields but demanding
more management. Organic farmers
have shown us that it is possible. But
careful handling of the product is not
the issue. Reducing the waste and
saving our resources is a priority. So
how do we deal with the problem?
Burning the containers at the edge of
the field is just irresponsible in this
day and age when we know so much
more about the hazardous nature of
the remaining residue and smoke.
We have to persevere and take the
initiative and write a few letters. The
market place has shown us it is
susceptible to public pressure. We do
have a little power that we exercise
so rarely. So this summer take up a
pen and drop a note to your favourite
pesticide manufacturer and ask what
they are planning for containers in
the very near future.
If this gesture inspires you, take a
peek around your community and
check out the environment groups.
These are like-minded people
looking for safe alternatives or just
interested in learning more about our
environment. For those of you near
enough to Brussels there will be an
Environment Fair held there October
1 and will feature products, groups
and ideas new to many. Organizers
are looking forward to a day full of
fun for everyone. So between letter
writing and joining an environmental
group you will have a busy last
month of summer.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger, in
addition to working in advertising
production for The Rural Voice,
raises two children, and is a skilled
cook and gardener.
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AUGUST 1992 41