Editor:
The column from the publisher of Coast Reporter (March 14) is right on the mark - the only thing Multi-Materials BC (MMBC) will recycle is consumer cash.
On May 19, MMBC will begin collecting $110 million annually when we buy printed paper and containers of plastic, cardboard, Styrofoam, metal and glass. Small businesses and householders will pay four times as much needed to collect and process thousands of tons, much of which MMBC plans to ship largely unsorted and burn for generating expensive electricity that Hydro must sell back to us.
High-tech incinerators like those at Port Mellon cannot be used because the surface on shiny paper has too much clay and the packaging glues and residual plastic gum up the fluidized combustion chambers. Low-tech MMBC garbage burners will foul the air because our provincial Environment Ministry's monitoring is moribund.
A "resource-recovery planning team" is a new watchdog formed March 12 by local recycling entities to advise local residents and governments on designing and setting up resource recovery facilities for post-collection processing of recycled products. MMBC threatens jobs of more than 30 current local employees who oversee separation and marketing for re-use.
As B.C. phases out landfills, the regional district plans to open resource recovery centres in Pender Harbour, Sechelt and Gibsons. Dealing with thousands of tons of recycling streaming in from homeowners and businesses includes many products from rural areas and others that are too big or unsafe for curbside pick-up.
Joe Harrison, Garden Bay
