I just moved here a three weeks ago from Kamloops (transferred for work) and so far am loving this city. While I don't consider myself an enviro-nut, I am absolutely appalled by the recycling program here. In Kamloops we were spoiled with curbside pickup of our recycling, using another identical - blue - garbage can, picked up by the same two-compartment truck that grabs the landfill waste. No need to separate, just toss all paper, cardboard, glass, tins, and all plastics into the bin.
Now, I understand that PG does not currently have such pickup, and I was more than happy to swing by the Quinn St. depot. On that morning, I entered the depot and unloaded a sizable amount of flattened cardboard, papers, tins and milk jugs into their respective spots in the big green bins, but unfortunately found myself with two large clear garbage bags full of perfectly good recyclable materials that could not find a home here.
We're talking pretty basic stuff here, like glass bottles and jars, dish soap and ketchup bottles, yogurt containers, clear spinach and strawberry 'clamshells', etc. Carrying my cargo, I approached the attendant and asked where to put all this good stuff. The poor young man had nothing to offer me except the large landfill dumpsters. A town this size, still not accepting these well-established easily-recycled materials? I found myself dumbfounded and even a little bit angry.
Throwing all this stuff into the landfill is simply criminal. In the Lower Mainland, it actually is criminal! In Greater Vancouver, anything that can be, MUST be recycled, and homeowners will be cited and fined if any such materials are found in their regular garbage.
With great sadness, I dropped my two large bags of materials into a big green dumpster. Tossing all that clean stuff into the trash literally made my skin crawl. The next day at the bicycle shop my rant continued, and the nice guy there informed me of a private service that will come to my home and collect my recyclables, for a fee.
With thousands of citizens willing to 'donate' tons of raw materials to the city's collection sites, and the rising price of these commodities, Lord knows we may even be able to fund another couple of pothole repairs.
Greg Taylor
Prince George
