Dear editor,
I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction and frustration with the way recycling is slowly and quietly being phased out in Comox, and apparently throughout the Comox Valley!
The only recycling depot in Comox has now been closed for eight months unless you have the "blue box service" (which about half of the population of Comox does not have, including many apartments, elderly people, people who live just outside the Comox boundaries, or people on fixed incomes).
I wrote a letter to the Comox mayor and council back in March, when the the last and only recycling depot in Comox at the Comox Centre Mall was removed, and I did not hear back at all except for one council member.
I care about the environment, and feel that this decision to close all of the recycling depots in Comox is affecting thousands of people in Comox as well as doubling the amount of garbage in our landfill since recycling cuts down your garbage by at least half.
The Comox Strathcona Waste Management say they are going to centralize the recycling depots. Well, where and when is the plan?
Rumours have it that the centralized depot will be in Cumberland. And that plan will be a disaster for citizens who live in Comox and Courtenay, for people won't bother to recycle and give up because it is too far away.
The mayor and council members should be leaders in encouraging more people to recycle. Instead, their policies are a big step backwards, and making it much more difficult for people to recycle, and many people will eventually give up. And what kind of message does that send to young people?
I care about our community, the future of our environment and believe that recycling is important in Comox.
If you don't care about recycling, then go back to sleep. But if you do care, then you need to wake up! Be like Rick Mercer in the Mercer Report on CBC and RANT your concerns to the Comox mayor and Town council! I believe it is time for an action plan.
1. Perhaps all of the environment clubs in the schools could write letters or e-mail to the Comox mayor to express their concerns about Comox closing the only recycling depot.
2. All citizens of Comox write letters or e-mail to the Comox mayor to express their concerns about Comox closing the only recycling depot.
3. Comox should begin a committee or group to plan strategies to convince Comox to bring back the recycling depot.
4. Perhaps Comox should organize a protest day.
I have confidence and faith in the citizens of Comox that they do care!
B. Geddes,
Comox
Editor's note: The recent removal of recycling bins at malls around the Comox Valley was a decision by mall owners, not municipal councils.