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Home My WebLink AboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-07-05, Page 5WEDNESDAY, ,JULY 5, 1995 Blue Box bandits Scavengers cutting into municipal revenues There have been several stories in the media lately about a rather unusual activity. It often occurs during the night, although there have been some blatant daytime ex- amples. It has become known as blue box scavenging. But it is really theft. Scavenging comes from the days (not too recent, in some places) when people who were at the dump to drop off some garbage found a few goodies to bring back home with them. It's no secret that many perfectly usable items often find their way into the landfill and scav- engers took full advantage of that fact. While this kind of enterphse may have been frowned upon by lawyers concerned with liability is- sues for the municipality, scaveng- ing has not generally been looked upon as a crime in the social sense of the word. Indeed, if someone was helping to reduce the amount of material needing to be landfilled and prolonging the life of an item, where was the harm? NOT THE SAME Taking aluminum cans or news- papers out of blue boxes is not the same thing. It is certainly enterprising, but in many places it is illegal. There are bylaws in some communities which .could •lead to fines of up to $5,000, if convicted. That's big bucks. In case readers are wondering why this is different from taking goodies from landfill. sites, rest as- sured there is a very good reason Cutting...into municipal revenues by stealing garbage. why municipalities are keen to stop this kind of thing from happening. Consider this: for several years, recycling programs have been emp- tying blue boxes, sorting the mate- rial and shipping the recyclables off to the various secondary markets to be remanufactured into new prod- ucts. This has been a relatively expen- sive service, although it compares favorably to burying the stuff in lo- cal landfills. The program. did not come close to paying for itself in revenues and the taxpayer, whether provincial or municipal, covered the balance. Lately though there has been a dramatic change in the market Sacred Heart issues worldwide request • Dear Editor,. If I were King or Queen of the world, I would help the world stop violence. Sometimes I can't sleep at night because of war. Please stop /shooting at each other and have peace on Earth. If none of us were greedy, the world would be a better place! People shouldn't say, "I'm not happy with the way you look!" Use the three Rs and compost, because the Earth is a mess and even Mars looks better. Peace,and love should be re- stored iour hearts, then we can work on problems like pollution. Don't tease people because of their language or where they come from. I will get a good education and become a biologist and save many different animals. If I could change the world, I would, but it is not my choice. If you make decisions, please think about us. God be with you, Grade 4-5, Sacred Heart School, Wingham, Mrs. McDonnell's class Thanks for support Dear Editor, We are overwhelmed with the generosity of the•Huron community in response to our appeal for hu- manitarian aid for the Cuban peo- ple. Last Sunday, with the help of two volunteer drivers, we delivered two school buses and a commercial van loaded from floor to ceiling with over 400 peices of freight for delivery via the ocean port of Mon- treal to. the Martin Luther King Centre in Havana. The school buses -- one purchased by students' coun- cils in Huron public education schools, the other by the Canada - Cuba Friendship Committee -- are destined for a residential children's hospital in Havana. The medical and hospital equip- ment and supplies, generously do- nated by four local hospitals, will be distributed between the chil- dren's hospital and other worthy sites across the island. While the equipment may be "obsolete" for Canadian needs and standards, the blood bank, the ECG, the portable x-ray, the ultrasound, the differen- , tial physio machine, -the defibrilla- tor, operating room lights and countless other items will provide significant relief in• the Cuban med- ical system. The beds, bedding, walkers and wheelchair from the Maitland Nurs- ing Home at Goderich will be val- ued too. The school supplies, the books (and 25 boxes of university research papers) will be shared among elementary and secondary schools, the University of Havana and a small college for sociology studies near Havana. The clothing, shoes and personal hygiene items, donated by individuals and Church groups, will be sent across the is- land by staff at the King Centre to places of the greatest need. My wife mil, and my parents, Howard and Mielyn Carroll, offer our heartfelt thanks for these ges- tures. We want to assure the many donors from across Huron and neighboring counties that the Pas- tors for Peace non-govemment agency in Cuba, accompanied by Canadian representatives, will en- sure that this significant contribu- tion to the 5th Canada -Cuba Cara- van is put to best use. Give some thought to how we might help once again, next November, when the next shipload will be gathered. We thank you! The following groups and indi- viduals in Huron County assisted in the collection of humanitarian aid for Cuba: Student councils at Huron Public Education Schools; Huron PES schools which donated surplus sup- plies and equipment; Huron County Board of Education trustees; Den- nis Harris and Rick Van der Ley, education centre; Dave Reed, Frank Cowan Insurance Company; Janet O'Rourke; Hillie, our famous cour- ier driver; Bill Millson, Seaforth Public School; student packers in Grades 6, 7 and 8 at SPS; student painters at Central Huron Secon- dary School; Student packers at the F. E. Madill Secondary School and Wingham Public School; Ron Ritchie, Goderich District Colle- giate Institute; Rene Dupuis, CHSS; Ron Englested and staff, AMG Hospital, Goderich; Lloyd Koch, John beBoer and staff, Wingham and District Hospital; Don Currell and Gina Giannandrea, South Hu- ron Community Hospital, Exeter; Bili Thibert, Seaforth Community Hospital; Kay & Friends, Maitland Nursing Home, Goderich; Audrey McKague and Church groups, Wingham; Uni-Pres Youth Group, Seaforth and Egmondville; Huron County Health Unit; CKNX Radio and TV; Murphy's Garage, Clinton, Barry Young and Friends Caring and Sharing, Harriston. Sincerely, Mary and Paul Carroll, 131 West Goderich St., Seaforth place. Those old newspapers, card- board boxes and aluminum cans have become very valuable com- modities and the markets are pay- ing big dollars for them. Recycling programs in many places are pro- jecting a profit this year! To put that another way,' the costs of col- lecting the materials, sorting and processing them and shipping them to 'market is more than covered by the revenues received. MONEY This means that not only is it a good idea, environmentally, to put that newspaper in the blue box rath- er than the garbage, it also means your local municipality, will lithely make some money from it. Now that it's pay -back time for the long- suffering taxpayer, fly-by-night op- erators are trying to skim off the cream from the program. That is Why the big fines are in- cluded in the anti -scavenging by- laws. ' Complicating the •issue, more re - 1 cently, is the emergence of schemes promoted by some service groups in which residents are asked to give their pop cans to programs aimed at supporting their charities. Given the amount of pop cans ly- ing around in roadside ditches, there is a great opportunity here for some enterprising people to reduce litter and support a good cause at the same time. If householders pre- fer to save the pop cans they gener- ate at home for these programs, it is their decision. However, it seems only fair they know the facts before they make that decision. (This article appeared in the Summer 1995 issue of Municipa- Link magazine and was submitted by Linda Cranston, Wingham's re- , cycling coordinator.) • THE WTNGNAN ALWANGFTIIIES To. S4Gp Acali# ® Customer t� Appreciation D .. Saturday July 8 J 10a.m. -2p.m® Hot Dog & Pop $1.00 • Water Wizard Display•i • Many In -Store Specials HOWSON & HOWSON LTD, 185 Josephine St. Wingham 357=2700 1996 BEAUTIFUL BABY SEARCH With the purchase of 19 full colour portraits for only $ 9.96, your child, aged 3-30 months, will automatically be eligible to win our beautiful Baby Search. The baby selected as the National Winner will receive $1,000 in cash and be our official 1996 Poster Child. 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