Editor:
The problem with forced rest – aka idleness – is that it gives people like me way too much time to think – in my case about the perniciousness of commonly accepted beliefs. For example, that recycling is universally a good thing and that the planet will collapse under the weight of our own garbage should we not do our bit. Don’t get me wrong – I get the same warm fuzzy feelings as every other good Canadian does spending an hour or two taking my recyclables in. The part that bothers me is that we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to companies to take materials that we basically sort for them, just so that they can get only a few dollars per ton for the same materials. It is then exported at great cost again (which we pay for) to some godforsaken country where they have enough problems dealing with their own mess. I look at my own waste stream and frankly I could burn most of my packaging and bury my own waste in a little pit in my garden and watch it turn to compost for the next few decades at no cost to anyone.
Why in this age of efficient industrial processes are we so deathly afraid of community incinerators, which could power mini electrical generators and heating for composting plants? Over 25 years ago I worked on ideas for the first industrial-sized composting plants for the GVRD, which included diverting the septic solids stream from the local plant, so none of this stuff is new. Perhaps we need to concentrate on doing things that make a bit of real wealth for us instead of lining the pockets of multi-national virtual commodity brokers.
Chester Machniewski P.Eng., Gibsons
