HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1977-01-19, Page 4Page 4
Citizens News, January 19, 1977
CHOCOLATE
BARS!
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What will become of the newspaper
you're holding right now in your hands?
It could find its way to a company that
manufactures fire and vermin resistant in-
sulation material.
It could be used to make mulch or a
bedding for cattle.
But, if it's like most of the discarded
newspapers in Ontario, it will probably end
up as garbage.
But, all that could change.
Until now the distance between the
main newsprint market centred in Toronto
and northern Ontario newsprint mills has
meant prohibitive transportation costs for
recovered newsprint.
But the solution could prove to be in-
tegrated facilities close to the market
which could de -ink waste newsprint and
convert it to pulp and paper.
That's just one of the findings of a com-
prehensive report called "Paper Recycling
in Ontario" from the Ontario Ministry of
the Environment.
It outlines the options open to govern-
ment and industry to increase paper
recycling, suggests ways to improve both
the supply and demand of waste paper and
describes the market factors in relation to
the pulp and paper industry — the major
consumer of waste paper.
The report says that almost all of the
waste paper used . by the industry is bulk
grade for the boxboard and container board
industry. The half billion tons of waste
paper used annually in Ontario, says the
report, represents a maximum level under
present economic conditions.
The pulp and paper industry itself
could use more waste paper, the report
says, but the technology is not yet available
for the required fibre separation.
And while the technology for recycling
and reuse is developed with the help of En-
vironment Ontario's extensive resource
recovery program, the best use for paper
appears to be as an energy source.
For example, the Watts from Waste
project, jointly sponsored by the Ministry
of the Environment converts the paper we
buy to the electricity we badly need.
Paper.
You were married on it, you got out of
school on it and many of you make your liv-
ing moving it around.
Producing it takes resources and so
does getting rid of it.
Minimizing the need for those
resources is a major aim of the Ontario
Ministry of the Environment.
One of the best ideas we've seen ... at
least on paper.
Winter driving
Winter driving conditions always re-
quire extra care and courtesy, but there's
an added need for these ingredients this
year in view of the vast amount of snow in
the area.
Pedestrians are required to walk on the
roadways and motorists should use ex-
treme care in approaching them, par-
ticularly groups of youngsters who may
engage in some horse play on the slippery
streets. Youngsters, of course, should be
warned against such activities and parents
should continually remind them of the
dangers of sharing the road with vehicles.
Drivers too must remember that banks
at intersections reduce visibility con-
siderably and should approach with cau-
tion. Driveways are also heaped high with
snow and most people venturing out have
little opportunity to see approaching traffic
until they have their vehicles well out on
the road.
The low number of accidents in the
past couple of weeks indicates that most
drivers are using the caution required, but
one unguarded moment could be disastrous
and this should be kept constantly in mind.
6:?/./7A_ Elcz
NEW HOURS
MONDAY, TUESDAY and FRIDAY
8:30 5:30
by Cathy McKinley
Consumer. That is a word you hear or read at least
once a day and probably, like myself, you have never really
given it much thought. However, at Zurich council's in-
augural meeting, Father Durand brought the word to the
attention of council, and as I was also present, to myself.
According to the dictionary, the word consumer is the
opposite to producer and is defined as "one who uses an ar-
ticle made by another". Not very flattering is it.
Is it any wonder the government has a problem seeing
the people they govern as people. We are not consumers, we
should not allow ourselves to be called "consumers". As
Father Durand put it, shoppers we may be, but we are
much much more than mere consumers.
The term seems to imply that all we do is sit back and
let someone else do all the work while we use what others
produce. While producing nothing ourselves, the term "con-
sumer" indicates, we are somehow taking advantage of
things produced by others. Nothing could be further from
the truth.
We are producers. Without us there would be nothing to
consume and there would be no way any government could
survive. Governments need us, and while the individual
members to both our provincial and federal parliaments
may realize this, the realization seems to become lost
somewhere down the line in the depths of red tape and
bureaucracy. We cease to become producing human beings
and end up as "consumers", or even less, as numbers on a
file.
To add insult to injury, we ourselves have been so
brainwashed that we not only accept the term "consumer"
to identify ourselves, but we embrace it and support agen-
cies whose purpose is to protect the "consumers" of the
society. If we could just take one step backwards, get out of
the rut into which we have fallen and look at the term objec-
tively, I am sure you too will agree with Father Durand and
myself.
Consumers drain a society and from here on in I refuse
to be called by such a derogatory term. Its insinuations are
totally unacceptable to me as an individual and I hopeforall
our sakes the council of the Village of Zurich took Father
Durand as seriously as I did.
February 21 is Heritage Day. Now you may wonder
just what a Heritage day is and your question would be
very justified as we have never had one before. Unfor-
tunately the answer is none too clear.
Legislation is currently before Parliament to make the
third Monday in February a satutory holiday . so we can
celebrate our Heritage every year—the first priority this
year seems to be to find our heritage as "The Great Cana-
dian Heritage Hunt" begins.
Somehow it seems a little ironic that a Monday in
February of all the months in the year would be chosen to
become Canada's official Heritage Day. February has got
to be the most depressing month of the year. Winter has
dragged on for months and usually vents its last
frustrations in the form of blizzards and ice storms.
Statistically, the month of the year when most suicides oc-
cur just happens to be February and although it may be the
shortest month of theyear in days, those days seem to last
an eternity.
Perhaps that is why the powers that be chose to stick a
statutory holiday in the middle of February. Something to
break the depression of the month; a four day weekend to
look forward to, even though there won't be much to do with
it when you do get it. Maybe they feel the suicide rate will
drop off or maybe they too find that particular month to be
one of the worst of the year.
de(0074. PIGR:R7z
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
Manager - Betty O'Brien
News Editor - Cathy McKinley
eNA
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