Editor:
Re: "SCRD hunts for new bin location" (Coast Reporter, Sept. 24).
Recycling in Gibsons is in dispute between David and Goliath.
Gibsons Recycling Depot is an award-winning private business whose expertise is sought after by other communities in Canada and that has been asked to present at a zero-waste conference in Brazil later this year.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has competed with them for several years using taxpayer dollars to give them the competitive edge. The SCRD will not be receiving an award for their handling of e-waste at the Sechelt landfill or for bins that are unmanned.
Kudos to the union negotiators who were able to negotiate a contract that does not allow the SCRD to lay off a union worker, but one has to wonder who is looking after the taxpayer?
Depending on who you talk to, the SCRD staff asked to take over the recycling some five to seven years ago. It was supposed to be temporary.
So, in my opinion, here we go again - a new solid waste management plan and the SCRD board will put out requests for proposals to private enterprise for recycling and then turn it over to staff to do in house and grow yet again the size of the SCRD empire at taxpayers' expense.
Robert Corlett
Gibsons
