Editor:
While walking along Reed Road toward North Road, I glanced down the ravine and I saw a sad sight. There are several household furnishings as well as at least one appliance lying on the side of the cliff. These items were dumped between Feb. 1 and 9, likely the victims of moving day.
This is a symptom of the problem that results from raising the fees to take items to the landfill.
Our community is getting increasingly littered with abandoned large items, such as tent trailers, couches and vehicles, joining the already ubiquitous dog poop bags, beverage and food take-out containers, masks, and returnables that line our roads and paths. Charging higher fees at the landfill is not going to work in the long run to sustain the landfill capacity. As long as we continue to grow as a community, the landfill need will increase. We all must take responsibility for the waste we make.
First, buy only what you need and before replacing anything, find a sustainable way of disposing of what you are replacing. Please do not destroy our habitat by tossing things down embankments and deep ditches where retrieval is likely never to occur. Put stuff where a good Samaritan might take it on to cart it away and pay the dump fee, as some folks very kindly do.
Mary Findlay, Gibsons
