Editor:
I find it very disappointing to see the changes to our local recycling with the new Multi-Material BC (MMBC) program.
What is acceptable plastic, for example, is so convoluted that likely most people will throw up their hands in confusion and simply throw away all of their plastic.
I have been going to the Gibsons Recycling Depot (GRD) for a number of years and I was always amazed at the range of material that they would accept. The staff was always helpful, and it all seemed to work very well.
But some of the changes are certainly going to be detrimental to our local operation.
I am told they will have to cut jobs at GRD, and as anyone who goes there can attest, they have employed many local young people.
Another setback and something that seems very counter to environmental stewardship takes place in the way things are shipped. Now GRD can’t crush the glass nor compress the Styrofoam as they have in the past, but instead have to ship out huge, bulky containers, which will entail many more truck trips to ship the same amount of product. Is this not all a big step backwards? How can any of these changes possibly move us in the direction of zero waste?
Given that MMBC is governed from afar by the Ontario-based Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance’s board of directors (which includes representation from Unilever Canada, Metro, Walmart, Tim Hortons, Loblaw Companies, Coca-Cola Canada and Procter & Gamble), can we really trust that our local interests will be best served by this new program?
How quickly can the Sunshine Coast Regional District exit this program?
Alan Sirulnikoff, Gibsons
