It seems that politicians can't help themselves once they form government and hold power and the purse strings. They are the solution in search of problems but rather than tackle the difficult and ongoing issues, too many fall for the trivial distractions.
At the federal government level, the distraction for the Harper Conservatives is the Fair Election Act and its efforts to clean up a voter fraud problem that doesn't exist (see Monday's editorial). At the provincial government level, the distraction for the Clark Liberals is the needless and senseless creation of Multi Materials B.C. to handle recycling.
With or without curbside pickup in their community, B.C. residents are enthusiastic recyclers. They dutifully rinse out milk jugs and soup cans, sort cardboard from paper, glass from plastic and what can be returned for money from what belongs in the garbage can. In Prince George and the regional district, most residents keep a couple of bins or plastic garbage cans outside to hold their recycling. Then once a week or so, as part of their regular errands, they stop by one of the recycling depots to drop off the packaging that once was considered garbage.
Regardless of whether residents bring their recycling to the curb or to the neighbourhood depot, recycling is now part of the routine of most households. That's a stunning accomplishment. Imagine households being told by local governments in the 1970s and 1980s to sort through their garbage and keep out the cardboard, the paper, the aluminum cans, the plastic and the glass. Then imagine those same households were told to dispose of that material on their own time at neighbourhood depots, with no financial incentive.
Doing that to help the environment and to extend the life of the local landfill would have been considered ridiculous.
Yet in the 1990s, people embraced recycling because it was a relatively easy way to make a difference, to do their part. Recycling became something that sophisticated, engaged residents do to make the world a better place. Tyranny of the majority quickly kicked in and people who didn't recycle were seen by their neighbours as uncultured boors intent on leaving a filthy planet behind for their children and grandchildren.
Meanwhile, industry realized consumers didn't like their recycling bins filled up with excess packaging. They cut down on packaging, saving themselves money and scoring points with environmentally-aware consumers. Some went even further by making the packaging or even the products themselves out of recycled materials.
Local governments did most of the work, by either bringing in curbside recycling or setting up neighbourhood depots. Now here comes the provincial government, insisting it can take something good and make it great. What they will do is destroy established private curbside recycling businesses, take away the personal responsibility residents already felt for their recycling and leave behind a monopoly that won't be accountable to residents or the municipality in which they serve.
Worst of all, numerous local businesses will be on the hook to pay MMBC for the privilege of recycling their packaging and products, where once local residents did it for them. Those local businesses will have no choice but to reduce staff and service levels, while increasing costs to consumers, to help pay for an unwanted and unnecessary recycling program.
This is classic big government meddling where the private sector and local residents were already doing most of the work. Instead of sticking to their essential "core services," provincial politicians want to jump in and take credit for "improving" recycling.
All they can take credit for is ruining a system that worked just fine before they got their grubby hands on it.
