Dear editor,
I read with surprise the recent article about the proposed cost of garbage collection in the rural areas of the CVRD.
It is obvious that in some parts of the CVRD, where housing is densely packed just like in the urban areas, regular collection could be done in a cost-effective manner that could probably be achieved at a cost of about $10 per month per household.
By extending the service to all residents of the CVRD, the cost of covering the greater distances has apparently pushed the price up considerably.
Currently it costs me approximately $4 every six to eight weeks to dispose of our garbage at the Cumberland landfill. We have one tote for plastic items, one for tin cans, one for glass, one for cardboard and two for newspapers.
We also have totes for pop and beer cans, refundable plastic containers, in addition to having three separate composting bins that are in various parts of our garden.
When I arrive at the dump I first dispose of all the cardboard, tin cans, plastic and newspapers before taking our single container of household garbage and any metal that has been accumulated to the appropriate bins.
My total annual cost is roughly $50 as compared to the estimated $150 indicated in the newspaper. A question comes to mind as to whether that amount would cover all the various types of recyclables.
Would the collection truck collect all the plastic, newspaper, tin cans and glass and dump them all into a single bin in the truck that then needs to be sorted, or would they buy special trucks with separate bins?
They could, of course, have separate days for putting out each of the above items.
There have recently been a number of sightings of bears roaming around our district roads and if the CVRD were to set up garbage collection on a weekly basis I wonder what type of containers would the residents have to use to allow for easy dumping into an automated truck while ensuring that bears cannot get into the bins and make a huge mess for the CVRD to clean up.
I for one will vote no on this referendum and recommend to others that they do the same.
David Netterville,
Area C