Editor:
In Brent Richter's article, "Gibsons council taking second look at recycling RFP" (Coast Reporter, Dec. 25), many interesting things were mentioned - only 300 tons of recyclables, and we are a small community.
First of all, where did this 300 tons of recyclables figure come from? Last year, the private business, Gibsons Recycling Depot, diverted over 1,000 tons of material from our landfill through recycling with no curbside collection, free to the taxpayers. Is the 300 tons from Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) mall site, or the two mall sites run by the SCRD cost taxpayers at over $30,000 per month?
Secondly, we are a "small community." Any new curbside program would require a brand new tax for this inefficient service. As the Copenhagen summit clearly showed, Canadians are doing a horrible job at reducing GHG emissions. One of the major findings in Copenhagen was that countries must reduce the amount of trucking and shipping of recyclables. Knowing this, why would we introduce more trucks and more taxes? Why not carpool your own and your senior neighbour's recycling to a depot when you are doing errands?
Gibsonites have already proved that they are excellent recyclers. And if it is built, they will come. They walk, bike and carpool recycling. If folks are making the effort to recycle computers, paint, car batteries, tires, green waste etc., why not bring everything to the depots? Carpooling recycling by combining trips and helping neighbours reduces emissions instead of adding more trucks.
Each of us must do better. Contractors must do better. Community leaders must do better. There is no quick, cheap fix. Curbside collection of a few items in a spread-out area is unsustainable. Gibsons won an award for being the most liveable city on the planet. We must live up to that.
Barbara Hetherington
Gibsons Recycling Depot
