In the June 12 Coast Reporter, there was a Q&A from the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) about recycling. In the last paragraph, it said that "single stream recycling" is a good method if done properly.
Do we know if it will be done properly? It doesn't say that this style of collection is an efficient collection method in densely populated areas, with pick ups close together. We are a rural community with a congested highway. This method at best creates contaminated recyclables that must be landfilled or returns lower revenue because items are co-mingled.
To be a zero waste community, we need to raise the bar. Single stream collection was invented by the waste industry, not environmentalists. It takes us away from zero waste principles. There is no reduce or reuse and no local responsibility. This system allows the individuals not to take responsibility for their discards or reducing consumption.
This method is like drift net fishing - it collects a lot, but at what cost? More waste, less revenue, less local opportunity, and more taxes. With the unmanned depots as proposed, even more recyclabes will be contaminated with garbage, that costs us the taxpayers over $500 a month now, to remove from the partially manned bins in Sechelt and Gibsons, run by the SCRD.
What happens to all the products these systems can not recycle? How can these programs be expanded to take more products?
Revenue and taxation will pay for recycling programs on the Coast. Currently there is little revenue to offset costs. The recycling review report estimated single stream collection to cost $360 a tonne. Current SCRD revenues generated by the sale of recyclables are about $15,000.
Single stream collection and unmanned depots guarantee we will never be a zero waste community.Buddy BoydGibsons Recycling Depot
