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Grade school stickers ridiculous

The CVRD should spend more time, effort and money on treating the disease not the symptoms.

Re: “CVRD tackling high contamination levels”, (Citizen, June 24).

The CVRD should spend more time, effort and money on treating the disease not the symptoms. Stop treating us like a bunch of grade school kids — for crying out loud, opening up our recycling and giving us a gold star sticker for “A” effort and an “oops” sticker for a fail. How utterly ridiculous.

The problem is not us the citizens, but rather it’s the system. I am sure that I am not alone in that I have a large pantry dedicated to recycling, I have containers for glass, Styrofoam, plastic — two types — one plastic bags plastic films stuff and the other hard recyclable plastics, paper, metals and returnable pop cans and bottles. It’s a frigging nightmare. We spend inordinate amounts of time, sorting, packaging, hauling, flattening, in some cases rinsing (a complete waste of water), and yup, occasionally a bit of something slips through. We the citizens are tired of doing all the work and paying all the costs, but then to insult us by blaming us and treating us like kids goes beyond acceptable.

I pay taxes through the nose for my recycling facility. I pay extraordinarily high tipping fees for me doing all the work and bringing both recycling and non-recycling products to my facility; a facility that I paid for in the first place. If recycling is so good for us why is it that I pay for everything on every front and don’t see any financial return on that investment?

And then my mayor and our staff have the nerve to blame us for some contamination.

Here is what is needed. Our muni should pick up at my roadside Styrofoam, glass, plastic film to name a few of the contaminants. Arrange for a truck with multi bins to come by and toss it in. This truck would come by once every four weeks on a regular recycle day. Don’t complain to me about contamination, rather do something useful and pick the stuff up. We do all the darn sorting anyway.

And for all the greenies out there, this will remove the significant amount of carbon pollution that is dumped into the Cowichan Valley by everyone driving and dumping there “contaminants” at whatever locations they do so. If you have ever visited the Bings Road facility you will know exactly what I mean...the place is jammed with everyday good citizens trying to do the best we can.

And we wonder why illegal dumping is rampant in our valley.

 

Bryan Wallis

Maple Bay