To the editor,
Re: Recycle depot closes its gates, March 22.
While at my dentist office I heard a brilliant suggestion: “We should all drop off our recyclables at city hall.”
Where do Nanaimo city council and the Regional District of Nanaimo have their heads? In the sand or somewhere less mentionable? In what century does the city council and the RDN think that we live?
The city will work on education for residents “to let them know what is recyclable … at which depots and where they can take it now the NRE is closing.” Will residents who use public transit be expected to use Nanaimo buses for taking their recyclables to a variety of drop-off locations?
Or will the city and regional district double the number of garbage pickups from every two weeks to every week to take our recyclables to the dump?
Will money and human resources used for recycling now be redirected to cleaning up illegal dumping?
Too bad that all the money spent on training councillors in civilized behaviour or on legal fees had not been redirected to the NRE.
Eva Manly, Nanaimo
To the editor,
Re: No decision made on NRE, city will meet with for-profits, March 29.
Coun. Jim Kipp is quoted as saying “Fifteen hundred cars driving from all over Nanaimo to drop off six bottles and a few styrofoam things; that’s not an environmentally sensitive methodology.” If that is all he recycles, no wonder our landfill gets so much material that should otherwise be recycled.
His “environmentally sensitive” alternative appears to be for us to place all Styrofoam and glass jars in the garbage – destination the landfill – out of sight, out of mind.
Perhaps he would prefer that those 1,500 vehicles all drive to the landfill, which would likely create at least 20 times the carbon pollution that the drive to NRE would create.
Ted Steven, Nanaimo
To the editor,
Re: No decision made on NRE, city will meet with for-profits, March 29.
No one goes to the recycling exchange with such a small amount. Their vehicle is as full as they can get it, very often a truckload. Neither are they driving from all over Nanaimo on a special journey to the exchange. They go there on their way to or from somewhere else. Going to downtown, the harbour, the parkway, merchants on Bowen Road, the two community centres on Bowen road, etc. Maybe even on their way to city hall.
The claim they got caught off-guard by all this is nothing short of laughable, if it wasn’t so tragic. However, council’s idea of sending us to multiple locations to achieve the same thing particularly if they are in areas not so frequently used by the public as are the aforementioned, that is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Flo Dolega-Cieszkowski, Nanaimo
To the editor,
Re: Repay NRE for its efforts, Letters, March 27.
The writer of the first letter says it all. Thanks for publishing this.
We must not fail the planet. Act now.
Ann Morrison, Nanaimo